Nada Rawlins Paintings

Wangkatjungka artist Nada Rawlins is represented in major national collections including National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of Western Australia. Her paintings of her birth country around the Percival Lakes detail the desert landscape and the critical locations of waterholes and soaks that exist in and around the salt pan country.

Nada Rawlins walked with her family north along the Canning Stock Route into the Kimberley where her people had been migrating for 30 years. Nada Rawlins arrived at Christmas Creek and settled at Fitzroy Crossing and Wangkatjungka community. She joined the painting movement at Fitzroy Crossing in the late 1980s and exhibited her work over the next three decades.

Nada Rawlins often tells the stories of the five main waterholes on her ancestral country, painting images of Kirriwirri, Linjalangu, Murtikujarra, Yurlpu and Yimiri. Kirriwirri is the major site for the artist – “This is Kirriwirri Jila. This is where I was born. My father passed away in this country. The water never dries up in this jila – this is living water. Near Kirriwirri there are lots of warla (salt lakes or claypans) where water collects after rain, and which are mostly salty. You can see the lines of salt which are left when the water dries up in the warla.” Aboriginal art status – Highly regarded artist.

Selected Exhibitions

1991 Karrayili, Tandanya, Adelaide
1992 Group Show, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
1993 Images of Power: Aboriginal Art from Kimberleys, National Gallery of Victoria
1993 Mangkaja Women, Fremantle Arts Centre
1994 This is my country, Artplace, Perth
1995 Kimberley Art, Melbourne
1996 Heritage Commission Art Award, Old Parliament House, Canberra
1997 Group Show, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
1998 Group Show, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1999 Ngurrara, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2000 Women’s Work, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
2001 Ngurrara Canvas, National Gallery of Australia
2001 Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2001 Mangkaja Arts Ten Years On, Tandanya, Adelaide
2002 Group Show , Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Mangkaja Women, Raft Artspace, Darwin
2003 Artists of Wangkajungka Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2004 Waterholes and Sandhills, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2004 Striking Colours of the Living Desert, Walkabout Gallery, Sydney,
2004 Tali and Jila – Sandhills and Waterholes, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2004 Paintings from Wangkatjungka, Fire-Works Gallery, Brisbane
2004 Stories of Country, Raintree Gallery, Darwin
2004 Divas of The Desert, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
2005 Artists of Wangkatjungka, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
2005 Yirmpurr (Living Water), Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2005 Wangkatjungka, Ladner and Fell Gallery, Melbourne
2005 Wangkatjunka Artists, Tandanya, Adelaide
2006 Wangkatjungka Artists, Hogarth Galleries Sydney NSW
2007 Wangkatjungka Mapping Country, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2007 Desert Mosaic, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2008 Wangkatjungka Artists: Canning Stock Route, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2009 Desert Rains – Wangkatjungka Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2009 Kids and Mentors, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2010 Wangkatjungka Artists: Biddee Baadjo and Nada Rawlins, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney NSW
2010 Wangkatjungka Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2010 Wangkatjungka Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA