Bright light stream

JOANNE CURRIE NALINGU
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.