"The Colour of My Country": Landscape and Spirituality in the Art of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala

Abstract

In a landmark retrospective exhibition held in 1997, the National Galley of Victoria showed the work of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala. The art of an aboriginal artist working in a Western rather than indigenous colour tradition and exhibiting in a specific Western context (the art museum) invites analysis in Western terms; yet the spiritualisation of the landscape itself -both in Riley's consciousness and in his artistic expression - demands that a reconciliation be found between this secular and Western context and the symbolic content of his art. This reconciliation is found through colour.