Yellow ochre was one of the original colours used by Aboriginal artists, today many shades of gold & yellow suggest colours of early morning & golden light
The colours of the yellow gold spectrum have been used by contemporary Aboriginal artists to give a sense of lightness and open space. The colours are associated with softer light of dawn and in the large spaces of desert landscape. Artists like Eubena Nampitjin used a warm palette of yellow, red and white to create the forms related to sacred sites from her country. Eubena used gold colour in large areas and included it in a great many paintings – it has become a signature quality of her work. Artists like Kudditji Kngwarreye create the mood of their country relying solely on colour, which he used in large blocks. It is therefore expected that some of his paintings are keyed in to tones of gold to create a particular mood and sense of space. Gloria Petyarre has used gold tones in some of her Bush Medicine Leaves paintings, creating a shimmering sense of the movement and richness to her subject.
Makinti Napanangka in her mature style used bands of colour that often featured gold colours, to represent the woven ornaments made by women for ceremonial occasions. The twisting strands of colour relate to weaving the hair string adornments and use of gold colours heightens the significance of this ritual process. Maureen Hudson Nampijinpa often uses gold tones in her sinuous lines of sandhills that make up the terrain of her home country.
Many other contemporary Indigenous artists have strongly favoured gold colours in their rich selection of colours, including Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Minnie Pwerle, Polly Ngale, Galya Pwerle and Queenie McKenzie. The brilliant effects of colour are one of the artistic features used by these artists to reinforce the importance of the subject matter they are presenting.
