Linda Syddick Napaltjarri
Encyclopedia
Linda Yunkata Syddick Napaltjarri (born c. 1937) is a Pintupi
- and Pitjantjatjara- speaking Indigenous artist
from Australia's
Western Desert
region. Her father was killed when she was young; her mother later married Shorty Lungkarta Tjungarrayi, an artist whose work was a significant influence on Linda Syddick's painting.
Linda Syddick was one of many Western Desert women who took up painting in the early 1990s, as part of a broader contemporary Indigenous Australian art
movement. She began painting some time prior to 1991, when her work was first exhibited in Alice Springs
. Her work includes a distinctive fusion of Christian and Aboriginal traditional themes and motifs. She has been a finalist in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
s on at least four occasions, and in the Blake Prize (a religious art competition) at least three times. Her works are held by numerous galleries including the National Gallery of Australia
, the Art Gallery of New South Wales
and the Art Gallery of South Australia
. Linda Syddick was the subject of a portrait painted by Robert Hannaford
, which was a 1992 finalist in Australia's premiere portrait competition, the Archibald Prize
.
Sources differ on the year of Linda Syddick's birth. The Art Gallery of South Australia suggests 1941; Birnberg and Kreczmanski's biographical survey suggests circa 1937. The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events. She was born near Western Australia's Wilkinkarra, or Lake Mackay
, northeast of Kiwirrkurra Community, Western Australia and northwest of Kintore, Northern Territory
.
'Napaljarri
' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name
, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans. Thus 'Linda Syddick' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers. Linda has also been referred to as Tjungkaya Napaltjarri, however she is not the artist Tjunkiya Napaltjarri
, who lived at Papunya, Northern Territory
.
Linda Syddick's parents were Wanala or Napulu Nangala and Rintja Tjungurrayi; however Rintja (or Riintja) was killed in a revenge attack when Linda was still very small, and in 1943 her mother moved to Kintore. Linda's stepfather Shorty Lungkarta Tjungarrayi was a significant influence on her early painting. Short Lungkata was also the father of artist Wintjiya Morgan Napaltjarri (known as Wintjiya No. 2 and no relation to yet another artist, Wintjiya Napaltjarri
). Linda married Musty Siddick, had two children Ruby and Irene, and in the 1970s they were living in a Northern Territory Pintupi community called Yayayi. After Musty's death she remarried.
Linda Syddick has also achieved recognitition as a painter's model: she was the subject of Robert Hannaford
's painting that was a finalist in the 2002 Archibald Prize
, Australia's premier portrait prize.
. This initiative, which used acrylic paint
s to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. The first artists, including all of the founders of the Papunya Tula
artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia towards women painting. However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s a large number of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore, Yuendumu, Balgo
, and on the outstations
, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.
. Her works, such as A nest of crosses, gladly borne painted for an exhibition titled Mary Mackillop: a tribute, combine traditional Indigenous painting techniques and motifs with Christian imagery and themes. Linda Syddick had two paintings included in an exhibition, From Appreciation to Appropriation, at the Flinders University Art Museum City Gallery in 2000. One—Eucharist—again looked at Christian influences in Indigenous culture; the other dealt with Hollywood influences, and was titled ET: the bicycle ride. Linda's interest in Christian iconography is reflected in the inclusion of her work The Eucharist in another Flinders University Art Museum exhibition, Holy, Holy, Holy in 2004, which examined the advent of Christianity in Australia. Other works represent her traditional country, such as her painting Tingari
Men at Wilkingkarra (Lake Mackay), which was a finalist at the 2009 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
s. Artists of the Western Desert region, such as Linda Syddick, frequently portray figures from the Tingari cycle of 'songlines
', particularly the Tingari Men. These are ancestral elders who − in the Dreaming
− travelled over vast areas, performing rituals and creating the country.
In 1990 Linda Syddick went to Sydney to see her work Ngkarte Dreaming hung in the Blake Prize exhibition – one of three occasions prior to 1994 on which she was a Blake finalist. The Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art included one of her paintings in 1998. She has been represented on several occasions in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, in 1995, 2006 (with her painting The Witch Doctor and the Windmill), 2008 (with Big rain at Walukurritje), and 2009, with Tingari Men at Wilkingkarra (Lake Mackay). Linda's works are held in several major public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Pintupi language
Pintupi is an indigenous Australian language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. It is one of the varieties of the Western Desert Language ....
- and Pitjantjatjara- speaking Indigenous artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
from Australia's
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Western Desert
Western Desert cultural bloc
The Western Desert cultural bloc or just Western Desert is a cultural region in Australia covering about 600,000 square kilometres, including the Gibson Desert, the Great Victoria Desert, the Great Sandy and Little Sandy Deserts in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia...
region. Her father was killed when she was young; her mother later married Shorty Lungkarta Tjungarrayi, an artist whose work was a significant influence on Linda Syddick's painting.
Linda Syddick was one of many Western Desert women who took up painting in the early 1990s, as part of a broader contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians. It is generally regarded as beginning with a painting movement that started at Papunya, northwest of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in 1971, involving artists such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri...
movement. She began painting some time prior to 1991, when her work was first exhibited in Alice Springs
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
. Her work includes a distinctive fusion of Christian and Aboriginal traditional themes and motifs. She has been a finalist in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award is one of the most prestigious art awards in Australia. Established in 1984 by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and awarded annually, it is sponsored by Telstra, so is commonly known as the Telstra Award.Prize-winners...
s on at least four occasions, and in the Blake Prize (a religious art competition) at least three times. Her works are held by numerous galleries including the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
, the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
and the Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
The Art Gallery of South Australia , located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in Adelaide, is the premier visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of over 35,000 works of art, making it, after the National Gallery of Victoria, the largest state...
. Linda Syddick was the subject of a portrait painted by Robert Hannaford
Robert Hannaford
Robert Lyall Hannaford , is an Australian realist artist.Known as Alfie, Hannaford was born and grew up on his family farm in Riverton, South Australia....
, which was a 1992 finalist in Australia's premiere portrait competition, the Archibald Prize
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
.
Life
Lake Mackay
Lake Mackay is the largest of hundreds of ephemeral salt lakes scattered throughout Western Australia and the Northern Territory....
, northeast of Kiwirrkurra Community, Western Australia and northwest of Kintore, Northern Territory
Kintore, Northern Territory
Kintore is a remote settlement in the Northern Territory of Australia, located approximately 530 km west of Alice Springs and close to the border with Western Australia. At the 2001 census, Kintore had a population of 691, of which 95% identified themselves as Aboriginal...
.
'Napaljarri
Napaljarri (skin name)
Napaljarri or Napaltjarri is one of sixteen skin names used amongst Indigenous Australian people of Australia's Western Desert, including the Pintupi and Warlpiri. It is one of the eight female skin names...
' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name
Australian Aboriginal kinship
Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Australian Aboriginal culture...
, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans. Thus 'Linda Syddick' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers. Linda has also been referred to as Tjungkaya Napaltjarri, however she is not the artist Tjunkiya Napaltjarri
Tjunkiya Napaltjarri
Tjunkiya Napaltjarri was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...
, who lived at Papunya, Northern Territory
Papunya, Northern Territory
Papunya is a small Indigenous Australian community of about 299 people roughly 240 km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia...
.
Linda Syddick's parents were Wanala or Napulu Nangala and Rintja Tjungurrayi; however Rintja (or Riintja) was killed in a revenge attack when Linda was still very small, and in 1943 her mother moved to Kintore. Linda's stepfather Shorty Lungkarta Tjungarrayi was a significant influence on her early painting. Short Lungkata was also the father of artist Wintjiya Morgan Napaltjarri (known as Wintjiya No. 2 and no relation to yet another artist, Wintjiya Napaltjarri
Wintjiya Napaltjarri
Wintjiya Napaltjarri , and also known as Wintjia Napaltjarri No. 1, is a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...
). Linda married Musty Siddick, had two children Ruby and Irene, and in the 1970s they were living in a Northern Territory Pintupi community called Yayayi. After Musty's death she remarried.
Linda Syddick has also achieved recognitition as a painter's model: she was the subject of Robert Hannaford
Robert Hannaford
Robert Lyall Hannaford , is an Australian realist artist.Known as Alfie, Hannaford was born and grew up on his family farm in Riverton, South Australia....
's painting that was a finalist in the 2002 Archibald Prize
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
, Australia's premier portrait prize.
Background
Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began when Indigenous men at Papunya began painting in 1971, assisted by teacher Geoffrey BardonGeoffrey Bardon
Geoffrey Robert Bardon AM 1940, Sydney – 6 May 2003) was an Australian school teacher who was instrumental in creating the Aboriginal art of the Western Desert movement, and in bringing Australian indigenous art to the attention of the world....
. This initiative, which used acrylic paint
Acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry...
s to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. The first artists, including all of the founders of the Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula, or Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 that is owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative work with the Western Desert Art Movement, popularly referred to as "dot painting"...
artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia towards women painting. However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s a large number of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore, Yuendumu, Balgo
Balgo, Western Australia
Balgo is a small Aboriginal Community in Western Australia which is linked with both the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert. The Community is in the Shire of Halls Creek, off the Tanami Road . It has a petrol station, supermarket, Catholic Parish, School Adult Education Centre, Clinic and...
, and on the outstations
Outstation movement
The Outstation movement refers to the relocation of Indigenous Australians from towns to remote outposts on traditional tribal land.As described in the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody a range of problems faced Aboriginal people living in towns.During the 1980s a number of groups...
, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.
Career
Linda Syddick was painting by 1991, when her works were hung in a private gallery—Gallery Gondwana—in Alice SpringsAlice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
. Her works, such as A nest of crosses, gladly borne painted for an exhibition titled Mary Mackillop: a tribute, combine traditional Indigenous painting techniques and motifs with Christian imagery and themes. Linda Syddick had two paintings included in an exhibition, From Appreciation to Appropriation, at the Flinders University Art Museum City Gallery in 2000. One—Eucharist—again looked at Christian influences in Indigenous culture; the other dealt with Hollywood influences, and was titled ET: the bicycle ride. Linda's interest in Christian iconography is reflected in the inclusion of her work The Eucharist in another Flinders University Art Museum exhibition, Holy, Holy, Holy in 2004, which examined the advent of Christianity in Australia. Other works represent her traditional country, such as her painting Tingari
Tingari
The Tingari cycle in Australian Aboriginal mythology embodies a vast network of Aboriginal Dreaming songlines that traverse the Western Desert region of Australia...
Men at Wilkingkarra (Lake Mackay), which was a finalist at the 2009 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award is one of the most prestigious art awards in Australia. Established in 1984 by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and awarded annually, it is sponsored by Telstra, so is commonly known as the Telstra Award.Prize-winners...
s. Artists of the Western Desert region, such as Linda Syddick, frequently portray figures from the Tingari cycle of 'songlines
Songlines
Songlines, also called Dreaming tracks by Indigenous Australians within the animist indigenous belief system, are paths across the land which mark the route followed by localised 'creator-beings' during the Dreaming...
', particularly the Tingari Men. These are ancestral elders who − in the Dreaming
Dreaming (spirituality)
The Dreaming is a common term within the animist creation narrative of indigenous Australians for a personal, or group, creation and for what may be understood as the "timeless time" of formative creation and perpetual creating....
− travelled over vast areas, performing rituals and creating the country.
In 1990 Linda Syddick went to Sydney to see her work Ngkarte Dreaming hung in the Blake Prize exhibition – one of three occasions prior to 1994 on which she was a Blake finalist. The Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art included one of her paintings in 1998. She has been represented on several occasions in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, in 1995, 2006 (with her painting The Witch Doctor and the Windmill), 2008 (with Big rain at Walukurritje), and 2009, with Tingari Men at Wilkingkarra (Lake Mackay). Linda's works are held in several major public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South WalesArt Gallery of New South WalesThe Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
- Art Gallery of South AustraliaArt Gallery of South AustraliaThe Art Gallery of South Australia , located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in Adelaide, is the premier visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of over 35,000 works of art, making it, after the National Gallery of Victoria, the largest state...
- ArtbankArtbankArtbank is an art rental program established in 1980 by the Australian Government. It supports contemporary Australian artists and encourages a wider appreciation of their work by buying artworks which it then rents to public and private sector clients. It was modeled on the Canadian Art Bank,...
- Auckland City Art Gallery
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern TerritoryMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern TerritoryThe Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory is the main museum in the Northern Territory. The museum is located in the inner Darwin suburb of Fannie Bay...
- National Gallery of AustraliaNational Gallery of AustraliaThe National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
Awards
- 2009 – finalist, 26th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
- 2008 – finalist, 25th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
- 2006 – finalist, 23rd National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
- 1995 – finalist, 12th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
External links
- Robert Hannaford's portrait of Linda Syddick Napaltjarri, 2002.
- Tingari Dreaming at Walukurritja (2000), painting by Linda Syddick held by the Art Gallery of South Australia.
