Joanne Currie Nalingu | FireWorks Gallery

Artist Tabs

Selected works

FW6042 The ex	FW11224 Dry river lines	FW12161 Book river dark (diptych)
FW12165 Book river light (diptych)	FW12344 Senseless (set of 5) edition 2/5	FW13540 The river is a shield
FW14713 Ash River II	FW17979 Summer Maranoa swirl	FW19620 Blood river shield
FW20671 Maranoa river lines (green)	FW20672 Maranoa river lines (blue)	FW20673 Maranoa river lines (orange)
FW21163 River shield revival	FW21359 Drift and meander (5 panels)	FW21443 Gungarri traces

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Bio & CV

Born: 1964 Mitchell QLD
Language: Gungurri
Country: Maranoa River
Region: Mitchell QLD

Joanne has realised a highly charged individual style that, although instantly recognisable as Aboriginal, speaks of her journey as an artist moving within cultures. The importance of the river as a metaphor is a constant in Joanne’s painting, as this takes her back to the hardships of her early life living on the banks of the Maranoa River.

Joanne comments,
I grew up on the ‘Yumba’, out west by the banks of the Maranoa River in the 1960s. Now I live closer to Brisbane where we raised our kids and now our grandkids. I’ve always painted about the Maranoa area, the traditional designs found on shields and artefacts, the lines and colours of the river…I try to keep it simple…clean and sharp!

But Joanne also realises that these meditative interpretations of the Maranoa River are not geographically specific and they refer to a broader analogy, “… that river is really a symbol for all rivers, for all people”. Her paintings depict water as a universal life source via a powerful yet peaceful linear treatment.

In 2008, she won The Wynne Prize at AGNSW and has been a finalist numerous times in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Award. Joanne’s work is held in numerous private and public collections including Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Brisbane.

Story/Statement

DRIFT AND MEANDER (5 PANELS)
Building on her seven-panel installation Dark River Bend created for Veiled Histories at Caloundra Regional Gallery, this work wraps the corner of the wall, immersing the viewer in Joanne’s distinctive river lines. Behind these lines are subtle shield shapes, almost indecipherable, attempting to break through like a faint whisper posing unanswerable questions.

IT FLOWS
In these new paintings, Joanne has experimented with the colours and textures of her backgrounds. Deviating from flat colours or block patterns, the backgrounds layer soft, warm yellows, ochres and orange, delicately blended into the dominance of the dark base to create an effect reminiscent of evening light, apparently glowing through her signature river lines.

TRACES
This collection of highly coloured paintings have a vibrant dimension to them. Embedded Indigenous language ‘snippets’ and Maranoa shield forms have been printed as the background of her canvases providing a contrast to her hand-painted style. The works bring us to a far more contemporary reading of her life in art.

The growing complexity in Joanne’s work, its strong political resonance and its developing conceptual depth, bode well for this self-taught artist. Her process toward completion of these works includes using photographic prints of Mandandanyi shield designs with Gunggari text on the canvas (with archival inks) as a base. Over this imagery she develops a surface texture of river lines painted in acrylic. There is a new tension in these works, wrought by their new elements – they have a brittle sensibility that evokes the lack of resolution to the problems of regionally-based Indigenous peoples in Australia.

Excerpt from essay Blood River Black Water, Louise Martin-Chew 2010

[More recently, this series] sees Currie’s colour choices lift, growing more varied and vibrant, the shield patterns dominating as her surface changes direction to become swirling and circular, hovering around particular areas and opening the layer below to closer inspection.

Except from Veiled Histories, Louise Martin-Chew 2022

RIVER LINES

For Joanne, her river has a spiritual dimension. Her River Lines, represent an artist’s meditative space- her country, a place she feels compelled to keep returning to. Her paintings speak of the river as a living entity, the rippling lines of the surface mimic the flow of water, or eddies of air and light. As subtle reflections of different events in her own life, these lines merge to provide a place of contemplation for the viewer to consider their own paths.

RIVER SHIELD REVIVAL

Joanne applies her signature painting style across 2D and 3D works, referencing the movement and lines of the Maranoa River and its significance in the formation of her identity since early life. The tensions between her rippling lines at once reflect complex depths contained beneath a fragile membrane of this flowing waterway, the spiritual dimension the river represents for her, and the political tensions she sees affecting regional Indigenous communities in Australia. Juxtaposing this textural surface with underlying language and shield motifs offers insight into the deep complexity contained beneath a bubbling surface.

SENSELESS/BLOOD SHIELDS
The tag ‘Senseless’ for Joanne’s series of shiny white, or black and red, shields is deliberately discomfiting. Looking it up in any dictionary provides a litany of negativity – unconscious (as in knocked senseless), lacking mental perception, stupid or foolish, nonsensical or meaningless. However, Joanne is drawn to make artwork for powerfully positive reasons – the reaction against a problematic past a constant in her life. The word has clear resonance for her – the dysfunction of alcohol was part of the community in which she was raised and senseless is a common condition in such circumstances.

Joanne’s interest in the shield designs of her area has been a subject for her research for some years and has informed much of her work including public art commissions and commercial showings since 1994. Yet the opportunity to deliver this new series in small editions for her 2010 exhibitions is most timely.

Excerpt from Installation statement, Louise Martin-Chew 2010

JOANNE CURRIE NALINGU

Born: 1964 Mitchell QLD

Language: Gungurri

Country: Maranoa River

Region: Mitchell QLD

EXHIBITIONS—SOLO

2023 It Flows Cooee Art Leven Sydney

2023 River Marks FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2023 It Flows FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 River Marks FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2016 She Walks the Line (Part 2) FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2013 Mina Mina Maranoa FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2011 Blood River Black Water FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2011 Blood River Black Water Despard Gallery Hobart

2010 Blood River Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery Bondi Beach NSW

2009 Waterline FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2009 Dark River Line Museum of Brisbane

2007 Joanne Currie Nalingu: Maranoa Lines FireWorks gallery Brisbane

2003-04 Give ‘em Currie Caloundra Regional Art Gallery

2000 The River FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1998 Waterways FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1998 Maranoa Country FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1997 Joanne Currie Griffiith University The Magazine Space Brisbane

1993 Back to the Yumba Mitchell Civic Centre

1993 Stories from the Mitchell Yumba Mitchell Civic Centre & FireWorks gallery Brisbane

EXHIBITIONS—GROUP

2024 Land Holds Memory FireWorks Gallery & Mitchell Fine Art

2024 Yellow Meadow FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2023 Over Thirty FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane

2023 Land Holds Memory Caloundra Regional Gallery

2023 Morbid Curiosities FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2023 Halfway House FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane

2022 Veiled Histories: Joanne Currie Nalingu & Jennifer Herd Caloundra Regional Gallery

2021 River Totem Revival: Ian Waldron & Joanne Currie Nalingu FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 Twelve Artists FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 Twelve Ways FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2020 Sunshine Coast Art Prize Caloundra Regional Gallery

2020 Black & White 2020 FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2019 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane

2019 Tjanpi Desert Weavers and three Indigenous women painters Despard Gallery Hobart

2018 Small Mercies FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2018 Welcome Two (Thompson Street) FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2018 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane

2017 60 X√30 FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2017 In Context FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2016 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane

2015 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane

2014 QLD Gals FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2014 Tattersall's Landscape Art Prize Tattersall's Club Brisbane

2014 Melbourne Art Fair Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

2014 SOLID! Queensland Contemporary Indigenous Sculpture Cairns Regional Art Gallery and Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF)

2014 Asia Contemporary Art Show Conrad Hong Kong

2014 Cross Over Merricks House Art Gallery Victoria

2014 The Long Hot Summer FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2013 Gold Coast Art Prize Gold Coast Art Centre Gold Coast

2013 The Tattersalls Invitaton Prize for Landcsape Tattersalls Club Brisbane

2013 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards

2012 The Tattersalls Invitaton Prize for Landcsape Tattersalls Club Brisbane

2012 River Days Gympie Regional Gallery Queensland

2012 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (exhibited by FireWorks Gallery Brisbane)

2012 Melbourne Art Fair (exhibited by FireWorks Gallery Brisbane)

2012 Desert Winter Dreaming Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery

2011 Stan and Maureen Duke Gold Coast Art Prize

2011 The Sulman Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales

2011 The Tattersalls Invitaton Prize for Landcsape Tattersalls Club Brisbane

2011 Eclectica Exhibition Series FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2010 The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales

2010 The Tattersalls Invitaton Prize for Landcsape Tattersalls Club Brisbane

2010 Ripples on the water Lines in The Sand (with Kathleen Petyrare) Depot gallery Danks St NSW

2009 The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales

2009 The Tattersalls Invitaton Prize for Landcsape Tattersalls Club Brisbane

2008 Xmas Show FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2008 Blue: a Group Exhibition FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2008 Tattersall's Club Landscape Art Prize Brisbane

2008 The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales

2008 Blue: a group exhibition FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2008 Anzac Artists 2008 FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2006 Homage to the Square FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2006 Three Large Rooms FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2006 Two Way: Artists & Mentors FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2005 The Light and the Dark III FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2005 Smoke: Campfire Group and other commissioned works FireWorks Gallery Brisbane & Despard Gallery Hobart

2005 SHOOSH! The History of the Campfire Group Institute of Modern Art Brisbane

2005 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards

2004 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards

2004 Out of Country QIAMEA Travelling Exhibition Washington DC Virginia USA

2003 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards Touring Exhibition

2003 Queensland Indigenous Artists Grosse Kunstausstellung Museum Kunst Palast Germany

2002 Six Coats of Black FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2002 CHOGM Campfire Group Exhibition Hyatt Hotel Coolum

2002 Lines II FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2002 Urban Blackness Noosa Regional Gallery

2002 Paddy Carroll Tjungurrayi and Campfire group: Tribute Collection FireWorks gallery Brisbane

2001 Queensland Features FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2001 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards

2001 Art of Place Australian Heritage Commission: National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition Old Parliament House Canberra

2001 Lines FireWorks gallery Brisbane

2000 Landmarks DAR Festival Brisbane Powerhouse

1999 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards

1999 The Road to Cherbourg (with Campfire Group) Global Arts Link Ipswich

1999 Powerful Medicine: DAR Festival Brisbane/Papunya Cultural Exchange

1999 Big Smoke Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Sydney

1998 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards

1998 Art of Place Australian Heritage Commission: National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition Old Parliament House Canberra

1997 Skin and Division: Michael Eather and Friends Brisbane City Gallery

1997 Engine: The Best of Campfire FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1997 Brisbane vs Essendon FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1997 Works on Paper FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1996 All Stock Must Go! (with Campfire Group) Asia Pacific Triennial Queensland Art Gallery

1996 Saltwater Freshwater Borewater (with Campfire Group) Regional Galleries Association of Queensland

Touring Exhibition

1995 Seven Deadly Australians FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1995 That’s Women All Over FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1994 Blakness: Blak City Culture Australian Centre of Contemporary Art Melbourne

1994 Political Posters Brisbane City Gallery

1994 Place and Interface Touring Exhibition

1994 Knowing the Sensorium Institute of Modern Art Brisbane

1993 Political Bedrooms FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1993 Aboriginal Perceptions Brisbane City Gallery

1993 Political Works FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

1993 Woorabinda Artists Conference Campfire Consultancy Woorabinda

1993 Campfire Group exhibitions Spring Hill Baths Brisbane

1993 A Different View Touring Exhibition

1993 Island (with Campfire Group) 9th Biennale of Sydney Bond Store Art Gallery of NSW

AWARDS & GRANTS

2020 FINALIST Sunshine Coast Art Prize Caloundra Regional Gallery

2011 FINALIST The Whyalla Art Prize

2010 FINALIST The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales

2009 FINALIST The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales

2008 WINNER The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales

1996 WINNER Maroochydore Art Prize

1992 Professional Development Grant Arts Queensland

1992 WINNER Maroochydore Art Prize

COMMISSIONS

2020 River Totem Revival Royal Brisbane Hospital

2017 Ash River Barry Nilsson Offices Sydney & Hobart

2013 Ash River Barry Nilsson Offices Brisbane

2013 Dark River Lines Mary Street Brisbane

2007 Maranoa: Wind on Water Brisbane Airport Commission

2006 Pathways Design for Textiles Artisan (prev Craft Queensland) Brisbane

2005-06 Shield Billboard Commission QUT Creative Industries Precinct Kelvin Grove Brisbane

2004 SMOKE (with Michael Eather) Cooloola Sunshine TAFE Public Art Commission

2002 Participating Artist (with Campfire Group) - Dogwood Crossing @ Miles Mural Project

2001 Coolangatta TAFE - Public Art Commission

2001 Participating Artist (with Campfire Group) Flotilla Installation Museum of Melbourne

2001 Participating Artist (with Campfire Group) Journey Tracks 4x4xMore Motorama Showroom Brisbane

1999/00 Participating Artist (with Campfire Group) Connecting Worlds Home Bush Bay Hotel Mural Project Sydney

1999 Story Bridge Abutment Brisbane City Council

1998 Women’s Public Hospital Rest Area - Mater Hospital Brisbane

1992-5 Numerous school and public building mural projects throughout Queensland

PUBLISHED MATERIAL

2010 - 2011 Louise Martin-Chew Blood River, Black Water FireWorks Gallery Brisbane, Despard Gallery Hobart and Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery Bondi Beach NSW (Catalogue)

2007 Michael Eather The Substance of Joanne Currie Antiques and Art in Queensland July-November p50 (Article)

2007 Joanne Currie Nalingu: Maranoa Lines FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

2006 Three Large Rooms FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

2007 Gatherings II: Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art From Queensland Australia

2007 Keeaira Press Southport (Publication)

2005 Michael Eather ed SHOOSH! The History of the Campfire Group Institute of Modern Art Brisbane (Publication)

2005 Dark and the Light III FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

2004 Give ‘em Currie – reinventing traditional stories and designs Namalata Thusi Department of Aboriginal and

2004 Torres Strait Islander Policy 1st Quarter no 23

2004 Out of Country QIAMEA Traveling Exhibition USA (Catalogue)

2003 Art Gallery Gives Caloundra Currie Caloundra City Living Edition 7 December p12 (Review)

2003 Telstra: The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards Touring Exhibition (Catalogue)

2002 Urban Blackness Noosa Regional Gallery (Catalogue)

2002 Paddy Carroll Tjungerrayi and Campfire group: Tribute Collection FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

2002 Lines II FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

2001 Gatherings I: Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art From Queensland Australia

2001 Keeaira Press Southport (Publication)

2001 Debra Aldred Campfire Creations The Courier Mail Issue 18/7 p36 (Article)

2000 Artistic Flow Brisbane News September 26 (Review)

2000 The River FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

2000 Joanne Currie: The River MAP October Issue14 (Review)

1999 Central Queensland Art Purchase Rockhampton Art Gallery (Catalogue)

1998 Julia Ross Cultures Unite Brisbane News August p25 (Review

1998 David Broker Skin and Division: Michael Eather and Friends Eyeline Summer pp24-26 (Review)

1998 Tressa Berman Sitting around the Campfire Art Papers Vol 22 Issue 6 November/December pp26-29 (Paper)

1998 Rosemary Sorensen Avenue for Artists The Courier Mail February 28 p16 (Article)

1997 Waterways FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

1997 Louise Martin-Chew Exhibitions The Australian August 8 (Review)

1997 Ken Turnbull Conversation Gets Under Your Skin Business Review Weekly September 8 (Review)

1997 Leone Stanford Two Worlds Michael Eather and Friends The Review September (Review)

1997 Margo Neale Skin and Division: Michael Eather and Friends Brisbane City Gallery (Catalogue)

1997 Saltwater Freshwater Borewater FireWorks gallery (Catalogue)

1997 Campfire Group Survey FireWorks gallery (Catalogue)

1996 All Stock Must Go! (with Campfire Group) Asia Pacific Triennial Queensland Art Gallery (Catalogue)

1995 That’s Women All Over FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

1995 Seven Deadly Australians FireWorks gallery Brisbane (Catalogue)

1994 Blackness: Blak City Culture Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Melbourne (Catalogue)

1993 A Different View Touring Exhibition (Catalogue)

COLLECTIONS

Artbank

Bega Valley Regional Gallery

Brisbane Airport Corporation

Caloundra Regional Gallery

Department of Premier & Cabinet Queensland Brisbane

International Education Services Brisbane

Mater Hospital Brisbane

Museum of Brisbane

National Gallery of Australia

Queensland Art Gallery/GOMA

Queensland Museum

Queensland Children’s Hospital

QUT Art Museum

University of Queensland Art Museum

Rockhampton City Gallery

Private Collections throughout Australia Europe USA & UK

Past exhibitions

SOLO

Creek... River... Ocean... 2024

It Flows 2023

River Marks 2020

GROUP

River Totem Revival 2021

Twelve Artists 2020

Twelve Ways 2020

Black & White 2020

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