Baarran
Baarran
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Rusty Peters

c1935 - 2020 Baarran 2011
  • natural ochre and pigment on canvas
90 cm x 120 cm
Description

Rusty Peters is a senior Gija artist of Juwurru skin. His bush name Dirrji refers to dingo pups looking out of a hole at the sunrise. He was born under a Warlagarri or Supplejack tree on Springvale Station south west of Turkey Creek the same day as his jimarri or age-mate Charlie McAdam. His spirit came from a crocodile his father had killed when his mother became pregnant.
Mr Peters grew up on Springvale learning traditional law and working as a stockman and at other things such as welding fences and stockyards. When his father was killed in a tragic riding accident at Roses Yard, the family moved to Mabel Downs where he became renowned as a horse breaker. He lived for some time at Nine Mile reserve at Wyndham after the introduction of award wages
forced people off stations but then moved to Turkey Creek where with other senior Gija artists such as Hector Jandany and George Mung-Mung he helped start the school.
As part of the Gija cultural program, he took groups of boys out bush, showed them how to make spears and hunt and to make a camp without matches or blankets in the traditional way. He also worked in the Gija language maintenance program. In 1989 he moved to Kununurra where he was employed at Waringarri Aboriginal Arts as an assistant. He was a long time friend of Rover Thomas, caring for him on most of the trips he made in the later part of his life. He made prints and did some painting while working for Waringarri Arts.
Peters moved to Crocodile Hole when Freddie Timms was based at the Jirrawun Aboriginal Arts group there in 1997 and began to paint on large canvases. His detailed knowledge of the land and stories from Springvale and neighbouring Moolabulla stations is reflected in
distinctive paintings in traditional red and yellow ochres and black charcoal. While recognisably part of the 'Turkey Creek' style the intricate curves mapping the country and the dark caves and rivers in the pictures are particular to his work. In early 2000 he collaborated with Peter Adsett, a white artist from the Northern Territory University. Each artist completed seven canvases taking turns to paint in response to each other. These paintings were shown at a joint exhibition "Two Laws, One Big Spirit" at 24Hour Art,
Darwin in September 2000. The Neminuwarlin dance group performed at the exhibition's closing ceremony. This acclaimed exhibition toured Australia during 2002-2004.
Peters' painting Chinaman Garden Massacre, which tells the story of yet another tragic piece of East Kimberley history, was purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in March 2001. This painting together with another work, Blackfella Murdered in Australia, were included in the Blood on the Spinifex exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne between December 2002 and March 2003. His eight panel painting 'Waterbrain' was acquired by the Art Gallery of NSW in February 2002 and featured in the exhibition True Stories: Art of the East Kimberley in early 2003. Peters returned to paint with
Warmun Art Centre in 2010 after the closure of Jirrawun Art.

Biography written by Frances Kofod and edited by Warmun Art Centre staff.

More by this artist

Rusty Peters c1935 - 2020 Garnkiny
  • ochre on canvas
180 cm x 150 cm
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The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art acknowledges all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians of Country and recognises their continuing connection to land, sea, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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