Tawurr - Half Kangaroo, 2026

natural earth pigments on plywood

30 x 30 cm ; 31 x 31 cm frame

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Provenance: Direct from the artist, Warmun, WA
Artwork story: Gurrir Gurrir is a ceremony of song and dance from the East Kimberley. It follows the journey of a woman's spirit across Country, connecting places and ancestral beings along the way. It was given to Rover Thomas in a series of dreams in the mid-1970s which started a cultural revival in Warmun, and the painted boards made for the ceremony are where Warmun painting began. Rover was married to Peter Thomas' aunt, Rita Dilmari. During the Gurrir Gurrir Joonba, Gija dancers carry painted boards on their shoulders, each showing a different figure from the story: the half kangaroo, the snake, and others. This board is Tawurr, the half kangaroo, danced in the ceremony. Peter paints him as a solid black figure outlined in white dots on a deep red ground, with the same dotted border framing the whole board.

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b. 1975

natural earth pigments on plywood

30 x 30 cm ; 31 x 31 cm frame

Sold

Provenance: Direct from the artist, Warmun, WA
Artwork story: Gurrir Gurrir is a ceremony of song and dance from the East Kimberley. It follows the journey of a woman's spirit across Country, connecting places and ancestral beings along the way. It was given to Rover Thomas in a series of dreams in the mid-1970s which started a cultural revival in Warmun, and the painted boards made for the ceremony are where Warmun painting began. Rover was married to Peter Thomas' aunt, Rita Dilmari. During the Gurrir Gurrir Joonba, Gija dancers carry painted boards on their shoulders, each showing a different figure from the story: the half kangaroo, the snake, and others. This board is Tawurr, the half kangaroo, danced in the ceremony. Peter paints him as a solid black figure outlined in white dots on a deep red ground, with the same dotted border framing the whole board.