On a recent day trip to Vancouver, we saw the exhibit “Marking the Infinite” -a show by contemporary women artists from Aboriginal Australia at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
I was really moved by the work in this exhibition. The work had an energy and movement, that felt like a heartbeat. The colour and pattern seemed to radiate and vibrate an inner life source. Without doubt this is the best work I have seen in a long long time.
“Aboriginal women have been redrawing the boundaries of the contemporary Aboriginal art scene in Australia since the late 1980s, redefining a movement that continues today.
Marking the Infinite features the work of nine Aboriginal women—Nonggirrnga Marawili, Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, Angelina Pwerle, Carlene West, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Gulumbu Yunupingu and Nyapanyapa Yunupingu—each from different remote regions of Australia. They are revered matriarchs and celebrated artists who are represented in the collections of the Australian National Gallery. Most of them make their Canadian debut at MOA with this breathtaking exhibition.
The artists bring their ancient cultural knowledge into their contemporary artistic practice, and continue to create art to ensure their languages, land and knowledge survive in an increasingly digital world. Their works are steeped in the traditions of their communities and yet speak to the universal themes of our shared existence, revealing the continued relevance of Indigenous knowledge in understanding our time and place in this world.” (quote from MOA)
