MADIGAN THOMAS
Madigan Thomas (b. c1927)
Fall Creek
140 x 100 cm. Natural Ochre and pigment on canvas.
ARTIST
Madigan Thomas was born on Violet Valley Station, south of Warmun. Before she began painting, Thomas would assist her husband Sandy, who was a stockman.
Madigan is a community elder and a strong Law and Culture woman. She paints for the Warmun community, which she helped establish in 1998. This community is notable for the use of natural pigments in their work and Madigan was amongst the first Warmun artists to combine natural earth pigments to achieve a range of colours - the true colours of the outback.
Madigan’s style is wide and varied from delicately dotted landscapes to vivid angry black lines depicting the opencut diamond mine on the Women’s Sacred Site. Her work is often characterised by various pathways and dreaming tracks that meander through the painting.
ART
This painting depicts a water hole near Fall creek, a place young people are not allowed to go without being welcomed or given permission, The ‘Willy Willy’(dust devils) are seen from there, which the Aboriginal people believe represent spirit forms from the Dreaming.
Provenance
Certificate of authenticity from arts centre