Language of Earth & My Countryby Tarisse King

Tarisse King was born in Adelaide, South Australia on the 4th September, 1986. She is the older sister to fellow artist, Sarrita King and daughter to the late highly regarded artist, William King Jungala (1966 – 2007).

Tarisse inherits her Australian Aboriginality from her father who was part of the Gurindji clan from the Northern Territory. The Gurindji clan came to public attention during the 1960s and 1970s when members employed by the Wave Hill cattle station led a landmark case which became the first successful land rights claim in Australia. Like her forefathers, Tarisse is an assertive individual who is determined to communicate the inseparable connection she and her ancestors have with the Australian land.

Tarisse spent the majority of her youth in Darwin, a unique city in northern Australia that is subject to extreme weather conditions; from torrential rain and cyclones in the Wet Season to oppressive and immobilising heat in the Dry Season. This climatic impact is seen in her artwork but it was also the road trips she travelled between Darwin, Katherine and Adelaide, where her father resided, that she reflects on most in her paintings. The journey of 3027 kilometres, right through the heart of Australia, reveals extreme expanses of varying landscapes and provided Tarisse with the isolation and time to develop a unique perception of the land which can be seen in her paintings such as Pink Salts and My Country – Tracks and Rivers.

Moving to Adelaide at the age of 16, it was her involvement with her father’s art that lead Tarisse to experiment with her own designs and techniques, resulting in a definable style of her own. Drawing on the Central and Western Desert Aboriginal dotting style of painting the land topographically, Tarisse captures a complex and varied soul of the land.

In homage to her father, her adaptation of Earth Images defines Australia as if looking from outer space back to land; the viewer is given a heightened feeling of drifting above the earth. Then, in her series, My Country Tarisse composes 40,000 year old Aboriginal iconography of song lines, dots and circles to create a bold and contemporary aesthetic and provides yet another more detailed perspective of the landscape. Finally, Pink Salts, lowers the viewer back down the earth and immerses one in the surreal and luminous pink sunsets over the great salt lakes in the centre of Australia. In all of Tarisse’s artworks, she con temporises the ancient and allows the present day viewer an accessible moment to consider the past.

Tarisse continues to live in Adelaide and paints in a shared studio with her sister. At the age of 23, she is a full time artist. She has been included in over 20 exhibitions, is represented in galleries in every Australian state, included in many high profile Australian and international art collections, been auctioned successfully through Paris’ Art Curial and is about to embark on a European exhibition tour in 2010. With so many accolades to her name at such a young age, Tarisse’s potential to build on an already outstanding career is more than promising.

View more artworks by this artist