Warlpiri people
born about 1928
Dinny Nolan worked as a stockman before following in the footsteps of several of his relatives and settling in Papunya to paint for Papunya Tula Artists in the mid-1970s. He travelled to Melbourne in 1977 for an exhibition of Papunya Tula paintings. In 1981 he visited Sydney to construct the first ground painting to be seen outside of Central Australia.
Artworks
Yawalurra, 1975This painting represents a ceremonial performance of the Native Currant Dreaming story. Accused of causing the death of a fellow leader, the sacred ancestor is pursued by a revenge killer, depicted as the U shape alongside the large circles. The lines on each side represent the river of blood of the ancestor and, at the same time, the dark red juice of the crushed currants, which flowed into the desert and collected in a waterhole. From here it was drunk by younger men for its life-force. |
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Lyurulyuru Dreaming shield, 1972
Events in the Dreaming story of Lyurulyuru, a small red-breasted bird, took place at a waterhole. Other details were not revealed by the artist.