작품 상세

ROVER JOOLAMA THOMAS 1926 - 1998 Country, 1996 ochre on paper 57.5 x 76 cm (paper); 85.5 x 102 cm (framed) bears inscription verso: RT0103 'Country' PROVENANCE Narrangunny Art Traders, NT Cat No. N-103-RT Japingka Gallery, WA Cat No. JAP 006146 Private collection, NSW accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Narrangunny Art Traders, including images of the artist creating the artwork In Country, Rover Joolama Thomas paints his homelands midway along the Canning Stock Route in central Western Australia. The work centres on the country surrounding old Yalda Station, a place deeply bound to family, ceremony, and memory. Through his characteristic ochre palette and schematic mapping of place, Thomas unites ancestral and lived experiences into a single, resonant vision of Country. The painting records the burial sites of his mother, sister, two uncles, a brother, and, at the top of the composition, his father. These references imbue the work with a profound biographical and spiritual dimension, connecting the landscape to the enduring presence of kin. On the left, Thomas depicts a larger gathering site where, as a young boy, he recalled his mother preparing mashed bush potatoes to eat with freshly hunted malu-malu (kangaroo), moments of nourishment, family, and belonging that shaped his early life. Country exemplifies Rover Thomas's ability to fuse ceremonial knowledge with personal history. The balance of form, colour, and space transforms memory into topography, presenting the land not simply as geography but as a living archive of story, spirit, and kinship. @ ROVER THOMAS / Copyright Agency, 2025