Ginger Riley Munduwalawala

Born c. 1936 – 1st September 2002, South East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

This painting demonstrates Riley’s unique use of perspective. The striking form of Ngak Ngak the white-breasted sea eagle is depicted perched high on a mountain. And yet, the landscape is imagined as if viewed from a bird in flight. The coast is substituted for the horizon of a conventional landscape and the water of the Gulf of Carpentaria takes the place of the sky.

This painting featured in the major 2015 survey exhibition of Ginger Riley’s work, Ginger Riley: The Boss of Colour at the Castlemaine Art Museum. This was the first major showing of the artist’s work since his retrospective Mother Country in Mind: The Art of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1997, and significantly also the first exhibition of Indigenous art ever held at the Castlemaine Art Museum.

Provenance:

• Ginger Riley Munduwalawala 1992
• Private Collection

Exhibited: 

• Ginger Riley, The Boss of Colour, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria 2015

Literature:

• Alves, T, Ginger Riley: The Boss of Colour catalogue, Alcaston Gallery, January 2015 p.34 (illus.)