Shirley Purdie (born 1947) is a

contemporary Indigenous Australian art Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians, that is, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. It is generally regarded as beginning in 1971 with a painting movement that star ...

ist, notable for winning the 2007

Blake Prize for Religious Art The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been a ...

. She is a painter at Warmun Community, in Western Australia's

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region.

Life

Purdie was born in 1947 at Gilbun, or Mabel Downs Station, in Western Australia's

region, daughter of Madigan Thomas. She moved to Warmun, not far from her birthplace, where she lives and paints. She is married to artist Gordon Barney. Her Ngarrangarni

totem A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While the word ...

is a

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...

, and skin is Nangari.

Art

Purdie was taught by her mother and by major Kimberley Indigenous artist Queenie McKenzie, two women who were among the first to paint at Warmun in the early 1980s. Her work ''Stations of the Cross'' was washed off the walls of the

Warmun Art Centre Warmun (also known as Turkey Creek or Warmun Community) is a township and locality in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth, Western Australia. The closest populated town is Halls ...

in the catastrophic floods of March 2007, and when later recovered from beside the creek it was found to have been seriously damaged. The work portrays the Christian

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of the 14

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

, but also the history of conflict and racial violence in the artist's community in the 1920s and 1930s.

Awards

Purdie has won several awards, including the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 2007, for her work ''Stations of the Cross''.

Collections

Purdie's works are held by major galleries, including the

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), formerly the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, is located on George Street, Sydney, George Street in The Rocks, Sydney, The Rocks neighbourhood of Sydney. The museum is housed in the Stripped Cl ...

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, which has her 1996

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

, ''Giwiwan – Bow River Country''. This print shows the influence of the painting style of major artist

Rover Thomas Rover Thomas Joolama (1926 – 11 April 1998), commonly known as simply Rover Thomas, was a Wangkajunga and Kukatja Aboriginal Australian artist. Early life Rover Thomas was born in 1925 near Gunawaggii, at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Rout ...

Books

* ''Shirley Purdie: My Story, Ngaginybe Jarragbe,'' Magabala, 2020 – shortlisted for the Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer at the 2020

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

and for the 2021

Children's Book of the Year Award for New Illustrator A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purdie, Shirley 1947 births Living people Australian Aboriginal artists People from Warmun Community Artists from Western Australia Blake Prize for Religious Art winners Indigenous Australians from Western Australia