Ngayiwoorrji

Queenie McKenzie was a major figure in the renowned painting movement of the Kimberley, and is among the most significant of the great older generation of female Aboriginal artists, many of whom died in the late 1990s. As the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and white father, McKenzie was subject to several unsuccessful attempts on the part of white authorities to remove her from her mother and the community under the notorious 'stolen generations' policies. McKenzieÂ’s work typically combined profile and aeriel views of hills and other topographic features that allowed her to teach others the stories of her country. This print images the country near the Bow River called Ngayiwoorrji. A Dreamtime woman and her husband were said to be sitting on cliffs there, calling their dogs to come back. But the dogs ran down and caught a plains kangaroo; the fat dripped from the torn body of the kangaroo, forming white rocks scattered throughout the country, that are depicted in the lower right of the print. This acquisition was presented by the Art Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation