Exhibition: In the Footprints of Barbara Weir

Take a walk through some extraordinary country in the footprints of one of Australia’s most significant and collectable artists, Barbara Weir.

Many of Barbara’s paintings are called My Mother’s Country, and her mother was none other than the great Minnie Pwerle. Barbara paints the sites that her mother was responsible for, offering her own creative interpretation of traditional stories. These paintings depict the sacred dancing tracks of women moving through the country and the connections between sacred places around Irrultja.

Awelye refers to women’s ceremony, dance tracks, and the body paint designs used in women’s ceremonies which are reflected in Barbara’s paintings. These paintings follow the tracks of women and children between sites. Barbara says the footprints of those tracks are in the country. “In the Dreamtime these paintings are on the rocks in that country, the footprints are in the mud there.”

Barbara also paints for grass seeds, an important plant from the Utopia region (merne ntange ulyawe in Anmatyerre, botanical name portulaca oluracea). She paints the grass in all the colours of its life cycle, from bright green after rain, the red of bushfires, and the grey and black after the fires. The seeds of this plant were an important food source for the people of the region, often ground up and made into cakes and damper.

Barbara Weir has taken a long journey to get back to her country. She was born near Utopia and raised by her mother Minnie Pwerle and aunties including Emily Kngwarreye. Her father was Irish station owner Jack Weir and at age 9 she was taken away as part of the policy of forced removal of part-Aboriginal children which has become known as the Stolen Generations. She lived in boarding school in Alice Springs for 18 months and was moved to Darwin to take her away from speaking her own language. One day, grown, married and working as a maid, Barbara traveled through Alice Springs and discovered that her mother was still living. Since then she has worked hard to regain her culture, her country, her family and her languages, taking 15 years to learn Anmatyerre and Alyawarr.

Barbara is a prolific and versatile artist who has worked hard to regain strength in her culture and language. Barbara began painting in 1989 and her work has taken her overseas many times. She was recently named one of Australia’s 50 most collectable artists by Australian Art Collector magazine.

From Sabine:

‘Barbara Weir is a women of substance. She has strength and determination like no artist I know off. Barbara is truly an artist. She has produced an amazing body of work, continuously given the Aboriginal Art world magnificent artworks from an ancient culture, which she is very much part off.’

Yours Sincerely,
Sabine

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