Purnululu
Artist:
Betty Carrington
(Indigenous Australian, born 1944)
Place made:Western Australia, Australia
General region:Oceania
Date: 2007
Dimensions:
17 11/16 x 47 1/4 in. (45 x 120 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of the Lam Family
Object number: 2016.14.51
Copyright: © Betty Carrington
Provenance: Sold through Warmun Art, to May Lam and Dr. Dorothy Lam; May Lam and Dr. Dorothy Lam, by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2016
Label Text
This painting depicts the 350-million-year-old striped-quartz sandstone domes that comprise the Bungle Bungle Range in Purnululu National Park (a World Heritage site). These striking, beehive-shaped forms are the result of many layers of sediment; the different clay compositions give the domes their banded appearance. The park is located in remote northwest Australia, in the Kimberley region near where Betty Carrington spent her early years. The title, Purnululu, is the Gija word for sandstone and is also a reference to the artist’s grandmother’s country.
Betty Carrington is known for her sensitivity to color and mastery of traditional pigments. As in a number of the works in the exhibition, the subject matter and the natural ochres used illustrate the artist’s connection to country. Carrington was a founding member of the Warmun painting movement and began painting in 1998, when the Warmun Art Centre was established. She is married to fellow artist Patrick Mung Mung, whose work is nearby.
(Exhibition label, 2017)
Betty Carrington is known for her sensitivity to color and mastery of traditional pigments. As in a number of the works in the exhibition, the subject matter and the natural ochres used illustrate the artist’s connection to country. Carrington was a founding member of the Warmun painting movement and began painting in 1998, when the Warmun Art Centre was established. She is married to fellow artist Patrick Mung Mung, whose work is nearby.
(Exhibition label, 2017)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
