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Artist Miriam Baadjo
Title Nyila
Year 2022
Medium

Acrylic on linen

Dimensions 121.9 × 61 cm
Art Centre Warlayirti Artists →

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Miriam Baadjo

In the early stages of Miriam Baadjo’s artistic career, she explored the expression of her Tjukurpa (creation stories) through the medium of glass and screen printing at the Adult Education Centre. When she was granted permission by the Elders to paint, Miriam began painting her uncle’s dreaming, Wimmitji Tjapangarti (c.1921-2000). Her commitment to painting as a vehicle to express her cultural stories is combined with her love of colour mixing and technical abilities. Her work Watkutjarra inspired composer Nora Lewis to create Onsight which was performed by the Darwin Symphony Orchestra. She travelled to Tokyo as part of the Motika Project in which she painted an Audi motorcar alongside fellow Balgo artists including Helicopter Tjungurrayi and Imelda Yukenbarri.

Artist statement

Miriam Baadjo paints her ancestral Country located far to the south of Balgo in the Great Sandy Desert. Nyila is a rockhole located along a large creek line between rolling tali (sandhills). Nyila is on the Luurnpa (Kingfisher) songline, which stretches from Balgo all the way to Uluru. Near the rockhole is a rock in the shape of the Luurnpa, as depicted in this painting. Miriam visited this Country in May 2021, it was the first time she had ever visited the site as it is very remote and impossible to get to by vehicle. On a Warlayirti Connection to Country camp, her and her family visited the site via helicopter. Everyone was very happy after this trip with their spirit “topped up.”