Sketchbook - Weaver Jack, Kalyjali

Blank pages
Dimensions: 17.7 x 25 cm
Made in Melbourne and designed exclusively for the NGV design store.

Weaver Jack, whose skin name is Milangka, is a Yulparija speaker who was born in c. 1928 at Lungurang, a jila (place of living water) in the Great Sandy Desert. This work reveals a brilliant exploration of layering with diverse range colours that energetically dot and grid the surface of the canvas to create a dense yet lively and shimmering pattern. The title of the work Kalyjali, refers to what the artists calls ‘the old people’s place, where everyone stopped’. Weaver Jack’s brother and mother both passed away at this important place. Weaver Jack was one of the first to experiment first with acrylic on paper and then canvas.

Weaver Jack
Yulparija c. 1928 – 2010
Kalyjali 2003
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
140.7 x 100.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2004
© Weaver Jack, courtesy of Short Street Gallery, Broome