Queenie McKenzie | FireWorks Gallery

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Bio & CV

Born: c. 1930 Old Texas station on the Ord River – died 1998
Language: Gidja
Region: Kimberley WA

Queenie McKenzie was born at the Old Texas station on the Ord River in the north west of Western Australia. As a child, her Aboriginal mother protected her from removal to an orphanage under the prevailing government policy that took Aboriginal children such as Queenie, whose absent father was white. As a young girl she began her life of cooking for the stockmen, tending and riding horses, and journeying as they drove cattle across the vast pastoral region of the north. During these years Queenie befriended Rover Thomas who arrived at Old Texas looking for work when 14 years of age. Later, she liked to tell and paint the story of how she saved his life after a riding accident by washing his wounds and sewing him up with a darning needle. When distant political decisions forced Aboriginal workers to leave outback cattle stations, the Gidja people faced a difficult time of unemployment, dislocation, and impoverishment.

Courtesy of Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery 2014

Story/Statement

The distinctive Kimberley style developed by Paddy Jaminji, Rover Thomas, and others spatially condensed the landscape into a profile view that draws relevant sites and events together into one visual field, with rivers or journeys often inserted from an overview. Queenie’s style embraced these elements and added figurative imagery to relate the stories of her life, her Dreaming and the historical events that constituted the living memory of the Gidja people. Mixing the traditional ochres herself, Queenie liked to create different colours, particularly soft pinks and purples, which became the recognizable hallmark of her style. Binding the ochres with bush gum provided a translucent and textured surface to her canvases. She became the first woman to gain prominence in the East Kimberley painting movement, inspiring other women to become involved and to embrace their 'women’s law business' of which she was a respected custodian.

Her manner was always decisive and vigorous, reflecting her belief in the importance of maintaining her culture and recording its history. This included the brutal massacres of her people, long remembered in their oral history.

Excerpt from The Australian Indigenous Art Market, Queenie McKenzie profile by Adrian Newstead 2014

QUEENIE MCKENZIE

Born: c. 1930 Old Texas station on the Ord River – died 1998

Language: Gidja

Region: Kimberley WA

EXHIBITIONS – SOLO (SELECTED)

2009 Queenie McKenzie - Written in the Land Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery Sydney

1995 Gara-Garag: my life longa Texas William Mora Galleries in Melbourne

EXHIBITIONS – GROUP (SELECTED)

2014 LEGENDS: Aboriginal Master Works FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2011 Eclectica 2:celebrating the stockroom FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2010 Passing on tradition - new and old Kimberley, featuring Gordon Barney, Paddy Bedford, Jack Britten, Charlene Carrington, Tommy Carroll, Billy Duncan, Hector Jandanay, Lily Karedada, Rosie Karedada, Queenie McKenzie, Jock Mosquito, Beerbee Mungnari, Mark Nodea, Nancy Nodea, Nancy Noonju, Peggy Patrick, Rusty Peters, Marcia Purdie, Shirley Purdie, Phyllis Thomas, Freddy Timms, Enry Wambiny Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery Sydney

2006-2007 Gifted: Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Mollie Gowing Acquisition Fund Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney

2004 North by North-West: Contemporary Indigenous Art from the Queensland Art Gallery Collection Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane

2004 EXPLAINED, A closer look at Aboriginal art Aboriginal Art Museum Utrecht The Netherlands

2003 Raft Art Space Darwin NT.

2002-2005 Native Title Business - Contemporary Indigenous Art a national travelling exhibition.

1995 Paintings by Warmun Women Australian Girls Own Gallery Kingston ACT

1994 Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition Old Parliament House Canberra

1994 Bush Women Fremantle Arts Centre Perth Western Australia

1994 Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art National Gallery of Victoria

1993 Images of Power Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne

1993 The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Darwin

1992 The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Darwin

1991 Aboriginal Women Painters Art Gallery of NSW travelling exhibition

1991 Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Darwin

1991 Aboriginal Women's Exhibition Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney

PUBLICATIONS (SELECTED)

2000 Artlink, Australian Contemporary Art Quarterly Vol20

2000 Reconciliation? Indigenous art for the 21st Century'Edited by Murray L.& Drury N. Australian Painting Now. Craftsman House

1999 Claiming Title, Australian Aboriginal Artists & their Land catalogue Carelton College, Minnesota USA

1999 Isaacs J. Spirit Country Hardie Grant Books, Fine Arts Museum

1999 McCulloch S, Contemporary Aboriginal Art: A Guide to the Rebirth of An Ancient Culture. Allen & Unwin

1998 McCullough,S. Pretty pictures tell stories (ThenAustralian Nov 18 p4 tribute)

1994 Bush Women, exhib. cat., Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, Western Australia

1993 Ryan, J., 1993, Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, exhib, cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1991 Aboriginal Women's Exhibition, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

1990 Dixon, R.A., & Dillon, M.C., Aborigines and Diamond Mining: The Politics of Resource Development in the East Kimberley Western Australia, University of Western Australia

1990 University of Western Australian Press, Nedlands, Western Australia

COLLECTIONS (SELECTED)

Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

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