Scarf - Taracarijimo Freda Warlapinni, Pwoja – Pukumani

Georgette
Dimensions: 140cm x 93cm
Exclusive to NGV design store

Taracarijimo Freda Warlapinni’s work is characterised by bold brush marks and methodically applied gestural markings. Many of her compositions are lines within lines, with the artist’s vigorous cross-hatchings inspiring her daughter Pamela to coin the nickname ‘arcmesh’, an affectionate epithet that stuck. Horizontal bands painted across the surface are a structural form from which to ‘hang’ short tassel-like strokes, ‘always painted downwards’, as her artist son Linus emphasised. There is a clear logic to this vertical orientation, following the ironwood tutini (pole) and the human body. In some works, dots, in-filled circles, squares and grids break the artist’s linear habit.

TARACARIJIMO FREDA WARLAPINNI
Tiwi c. 1928–2003
Pwoja – Pukumani body paint design 2002
earth pigments on canvas
137.0 x 84.0 cm
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Purchased, 2002