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$ERYH FORFNZLVH IURP ERWWRP ULJKW ,ENIE AND +EVIN .AMATJIRA WAITING FOR THE 1UEEN OUTSIDE "UCKINGHAM
0ALACE !LBERT ,ENIE A WATERCOLOUR BY +EVIN Opposite: ! COMMUNITY WORKSHOP HELD BY THE &INKE 2IVER

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WXQLW\ %DWWDUEHH DQG *DUGQHU KDG FRPH DOO WKLV ZD\ buildings and gardens now, however subtly, adorned
once before – an utterly mad distance at the time – to their walls.
paint watercolours of the desert’s interior and take them This wasn’t intellectual painting – not in the mod
EDFN WR WKHLU FRDVWDO GZHOOLQJ XUEDQ DXGLHQFH :KLOH LQ ernist sense, at least. And not surprisingly, academic
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have been deeply inspired, so much so that he might XQGHUVWDQG 1DPDWMLUDpV ZRUN %XW D JUHDW QXPEHU RI
have asked himself the logical question: if a foreigner SHRSOH GLG WR WKH H[WHQW WKDW 1DPDWMLUD EHFDPH WKH
could paint his country and get money for it, why couldn’t ĺUVW $ERULJLQDO $XVWUDOLDQ FHOHEULW\ WKH ĺUVW $XVWUDOLDQ
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nius would lead to an explosion in modern Australian WKH 4XHHQ DW +HU 0DMHVW\pV UHTXHVW DQG ZLWK DOO WKLV
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economic empowerment and, in doing so, fundamentally QHVV 7UDJLFDOO\ LW ZDV 1DPDWMLUDpV DSSDOOLQJ OHJDO GLV
RSHQ QRQ ,QGLJHQRXV H\HV WR WKH IRUPV DQG FRORXUV RI tinction – as an Australian citizen, with rights not shared
this country. The Papunya Tula artist cooperative and the E\ KLV RZQ IDPLO\ t WKDW ZRXOG EULQJ RQ KLV GHVWUXFWLRQ
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more than one hundred paintings a year. :LWK %DWWDUEHHpV LQJ DQRWKHU $ERULJLQDO SHUVRQ ZLWK OLTXRU WKH HXORJ\ UHDG
instruction, encouragement and promotion in Melbourne, upon his death pronounced: ‘In spite of many honest
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JXPV KDQJLQJ LQ D V PLGGOH FODVV 0HOERXUQH OLYLQJ tary about the famed painter’s life – and a very admi
room may seem clichéd today, but the image betrayed rable one at that. Constructed out of three intertwining
something far more profound about what was then a VWUDQGV WKH ĺOP VXFFHVVIXOO\ DFKLHYHV D ZRYHQ QDUUD
VWLOO HPEU\RQLF QDWLRQDO FXOWXUH ,Q D W\SLFDOO\ $XVWUDOLDQ tive quality, threading its convergent stories into one
straightforward and domestic way, a popular trend that E\ OLQNLQJ WKH VSHFLĺFV RI 1DPDWMLUDpV OLIH DQG ZRUN WR
could have easily been mistaken for cultural appropria much bigger social and cultural challenges. One strand
WLRQ DFWXDOO\ FDUULHG WKH ZHLJKW RI WUDQVIRUPDWLYH FXO uses remarkable archival footage to chart his biography:
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