Context (CMS Context)
Biography of the artist as recorded on the certificate of provenance accompanying the print:
"Queenie McKenzie Nakarra (c. 1930-1998) was born on Old Texas Downs Station on the Ord River, in the eastern Kimberley region. Her mother was a Malngin / Gurindji woman, and although her horse-breaker father was non-Aboriginal Queenie was brought up speaking Gija as her first language. In her early years, police attempted several times unsuccessfully to remove her from her family. On these harrowing occasions Queenie was rubbed with charcoal and fiercely defended by her mother.

For nearly forty years, until she moved to Warmun community in the mid 1970s, Queenie was a stock-camp cook at New Texas Downs Station. Queenie was inspired towards the end of the 1980s to take up painting - primarily depicting flora and fauna, as well as carefully composed works incorporating Christian subjects and iconography. In 1990, Queenie began painting for Waringarri Aboriginal Arts in Kununurra and it was during this time that real interest in her work began to develop. Her involvement in exhibitions through Waringarri Arts exposed her distinctive style of using pink and purple natural ochres, both of which she sourced herself. Her first solo show was held at William Mora Galleries in 1995.
Passionate about maintaining Gija cultural and ceremonial life, Queenie McKenzie also played a significant role in the Warmun community as an elder and councillor. In 1998 the Warmun Art centre was founded, making it the first wholly owned Gija art centre in Warmun, and of which Queenie was instrumental in establishing. In the same year, Queenie received two awards for her contribution to her community and the reconciliation process. The were the Western Australian State Living Treasures Award and the National Female Elders Award."
Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: Remke van der Velden

Description (CMS Description)
Print description as recorded on the certificate of provenance accompanying the print:
"In the print the artist shows the country near the Bow River called Ngayiwoorrji a dreamtime woman and her husband were sitting up on the cliffs there, calling out to their dogs (joolang) to come back. The dogs ran down and caught a plains kangaroo (jarlangarany). They bit him and the kangaroo fat dripped out and formed white rocks scattered through the country. This area is represented in the print at the bottom in the right hand corner."

Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
Presented by The Art Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. An acquisition project to build a collection of modern and contemporary work on paper from Australia, Canada and South Africa was undertaken over 2011-13 with the support of a grant under The Art Fund's RENEW programme. The collection was developed with the expert advice and generous assistance of Annie Coombes and Norman Vorano in relation to South African and Inuit artists respectively. Khadija Carroll, Anita Herle and Diana Wood Conroy also contributed to the selection process. A certificate of provenance is available for this print.
According to the certificate of provenance:
Print Number: PM107-11/30
The collaborator and printer of this print is Franck Gohie, and the publisher Waringarri Aboriginal Arts. Edition size: 30. Purchased via Northern Editions Printmaking Studio & Gallery. Gallery Address: Charles Darwin University, Building Orange 9


Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Etching titled 'Ngayiwoorrji' by Queenie McKenzie, [1998, undated] edition no. 11/30. Technique include printing etching, direct block out, open biting etching, lump rosin, aquatint lump rosin and aquatint, printed in bluish black ink, from one plate

The title 'Ngayiwoorrji' written underneath the image in pencil and the number PM107 11/30 appears in the left hand corner in pencil. A fingerprint in black ink is visible in the right hand corner. Watermarkrf 'BFK Rives france 8' followed by an infinite symbol is visible in the bottom left corner. The right bottom corner has a watermark in the shape of a hand.
Condition: very good.

Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
Exhibited: The Power of Paper, Li Ka Shing Gallery, MAA, 14 February - 6 December 2015. Reproduced in the exhibition catalogue.

Event Date 20/2/2015
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson