Artist: Shirley Purdie | Title: Sandfrog Deaming | Year: 2000 | Medium: natural earth pigments on canvas | Dimensions: 100 x 140 cm
PROVENANCE
Warmun Art Centre Cat No. WAC431-00
Fireworks Gallery Cat No. FW5082
Private Collection, Berlin, Germany
Private Collection, Sydney
ARTWORK STORY
Winnaba Springs on Mable Downs cattle station near Warmun (also known as Turkey Creek) is the country where Shirley tells of the Sand Frog Dreaming. It is where all sand frogs are born and where they go to die. This Dreamtime story was passed on to the artist by the late Queenie McKenzie.
PRICE
Enquire about this work
ARTIST PROFILE - SHIRLEY PURDIE
REGION
Turkey Creek (Warmun), East Kimberley Region, WA
LANGUAGE GROUP
Gija
BIOGRAPHY
Shirley Purdie, born in 1947 at Gilban on Mabel Downs Station in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, is a senior Gija artist who paints with the Warmun Art Centre. Shirley began painting in the early 1990s, following in the footsteps of significant Indigenous artists from her region, including her mother Madigan Thomas, Rover Thomas, and Queenie McKenzie. Encouraged by her uncle Jack Britten, she embraced painting as a way to document cultural stories and share them with younger generations.
Shirley says: ‘it’s good to learn from old people. They keep saying when you paint you can remember that country, just like to take a photo, but there’s the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) and everything. Good to put it in painting, your country, so kids can know and understand. When the old people die, young people can read the stories from the paintings. They can learn from the paintings and maybe they want to start painting too.’
Her works are known for their textured ochre surfaces, a hallmark of the Warmun art style, and explore themes related to her Country, and ancestral histories. Purdie often combines Dreaming narratives (Ngarranggarni) with Christian themes, as seen in her award-winning Stations of the Cross series, which earned her the 2007 Blake Prize for Religious Art. Her art also reflects the complex histories of colonisation in the Kimberley, addressing stories of early contact, labor, and violence experienced by the Gija people.
Purdie’s paintings are deeply rooted in place, depicting significant sites such as Baloowa, Jirragin, and Gilban, now part of Mabel Downs and Violet Valley cattle stations. She views art as a tool for cultural preservation, ensuring younger generations can connect with their heritage through visual storytelling.
REFERENCES
Warmun Art Centre. “Shirley Purdie.” Accessed October 15, 2024. https://warmunart.com.au/art/artists/senior/shirley-purdie/
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. "Shirley Purdie." Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.mca.com.au/collection/artists/shirley-purdie/
PROVENANCE
Warmun Art Centre Cat No. WAC431-00
Fireworks Gallery Cat No. FW5082
Private Collection, Berlin, Germany
Private Collection, Sydney
ARTWORK STORY
Winnaba Springs on Mable Downs cattle station near Warmun (also known as Turkey Creek) is the country where Shirley tells of the Sand Frog Dreaming. It is where all sand frogs are born and where they go to die. This Dreamtime story was passed on to the artist by the late Queenie McKenzie.
PRICE
Enquire about this work
ARTIST PROFILE - SHIRLEY PURDIE
REGION
Turkey Creek (Warmun), East Kimberley Region, WA
LANGUAGE GROUP
Gija
BIOGRAPHY
Shirley Purdie, born in 1947 at Gilban on Mabel Downs Station in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, is a senior Gija artist who paints with the Warmun Art Centre. Shirley began painting in the early 1990s, following in the footsteps of significant Indigenous artists from her region, including her mother Madigan Thomas, Rover Thomas, and Queenie McKenzie. Encouraged by her uncle Jack Britten, she embraced painting as a way to document cultural stories and share them with younger generations.
Shirley says: ‘it’s good to learn from old people. They keep saying when you paint you can remember that country, just like to take a photo, but there’s the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) and everything. Good to put it in painting, your country, so kids can know and understand. When the old people die, young people can read the stories from the paintings. They can learn from the paintings and maybe they want to start painting too.’
Her works are known for their textured ochre surfaces, a hallmark of the Warmun art style, and explore themes related to her Country, and ancestral histories. Purdie often combines Dreaming narratives (Ngarranggarni) with Christian themes, as seen in her award-winning Stations of the Cross series, which earned her the 2007 Blake Prize for Religious Art. Her art also reflects the complex histories of colonisation in the Kimberley, addressing stories of early contact, labor, and violence experienced by the Gija people.
Purdie’s paintings are deeply rooted in place, depicting significant sites such as Baloowa, Jirragin, and Gilban, now part of Mabel Downs and Violet Valley cattle stations. She views art as a tool for cultural preservation, ensuring younger generations can connect with their heritage through visual storytelling.
REFERENCES
Warmun Art Centre. “Shirley Purdie.” Accessed October 15, 2024. https://warmunart.com.au/art/artists/senior/shirley-purdie/
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. "Shirley Purdie." Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.mca.com.au/collection/artists/shirley-purdie/