Lucy Loomoo - Nyakungtjuunku - 520/15
Artist: Lucy Loomoo
Title: Nyakungtjuunku
Cat No: 520/15
Size: 90 x 60 cm
Acrylic on linen. Framed.
Story:
This is Lucy's country a long way south of Balgo close to Punmu in the Great Sandy Desert. This country is called Nyakungtjuungku and is part of the artists dreaming. The circles represent tjurrnu, or soakwater, known as inta, or 'living water' as it always holds fresh water. Loomoo says this country is rich with bush tucker. The dotting surrounding the circle represents these bush foods including kantilli or pura (bush tomato).
Bio
Lucy was born near Jupiter Well and her childhood was spent mostly at places along the Canning Stock Route. This country, called Ilangarri, is her mother's and grandfather's country. Lucy travelled and lived in this country with her family until she was a young woman. She married and had one child, Kevin, before the family walked all the way up the Canning Stock Route to the Old Balgo Mission.
A second child, Charlie, was born at the Old Mission and Lucy looked after the sheep and goats here at Old Mission. Lucy and her family moved to the new mission site, the current location of Balgo community, in the 1960s and here she had two more children, Damien and Joan. Joan was placed in the dormitory and Lucy worked as a gardener watering all the trees planted around the oval in the community. Lucy continues to live in Balgo and has outlived her husband. She currently has five grandchildren.
Exhibitions
2012 Watermark - the Signature of Life, IDAIA, Hong Kong
2010 "Ingalimpa Tjuntu" -Singing Songs "We sing the countryand that's how we find the way", ReDot Fine Art Galleries, Audi Forum Building, Tokyo
2010 Balgo Survey, Christmas Exhibition, ReDot Gallery, Singapore
Group Exhibitions
2008 Balgo Survey, Christmas Exhibition, Redot Gallery, Singapore
2008 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
2008 Balgo Survey, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2007 Eight x Three, Scott Livesey Gallery, Melbourne
2007 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, ALice Springs
2007 Women with Sticks, Suzanne O'Connell, Brisbane
2007 Warlayirti Survey, Aboriginal&Pacific Art, Sydney
2007 They might be Giants, Alcaston Wooloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane 2006 Balgo Survey Show, Redot Gallery Singapore
2006 Survey, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne 2006 Recent Works, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA 2004 Balgo Prints, Northern Editions, Darwin
2004 Balgo 4-04, Warlayirti Artists, Balgo
2004 Recent Works, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2003 Eight x Three, Scott Livesey Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Balgo, Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth
2002 Tali, tjurrnu and waniri: Paintings by three senior women from the Great Sandy Desert, Kimberley Art Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Kutjungka , Passing it On: Works from Balgo Hills, Coomalie Cultural Centre, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Batchelor, NT
2001 Short on Size, Short St. Gallery, Broome
2001 Desert Mob, Arulen Centre, Alice Springs
2001 New Paintings from Balgo, Cutliffe Gallery, Sydney
1998 The Laverty Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1997 Desert Country, Matso's, Broome
1997 Dreamings, Arnhem, The Netherlands
1995 Aboriginal Paintings and Prints, on loan from the collection of Robert and Barbara Bromberg, New Visions Gallery, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA
1993 Wirrimanu: the Art of Balgo Hills, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Paddington
1992 Warlayirti Artists' Homelands, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Paddington
1992 Broome Fringe Festival, Broome
1991 A Focus on Western Australia, Crafts Council of NSW, The Rocks, Sydney
1991 Paintings by Senior Women from the Western Desert, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
1991 Some Aboriginal Women: A Survey of Contemporary Women's Art, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Paddington
1990 Songlines: Paintings from Balgo Hills, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, UK
1990 The Singing Earth, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
1990 Warlayirti Artists, Birukmarri Gallery, Freemantle
1989 Warlayirti Artists: Continuing Links with Land, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Paddington
Collections:
Laverty Collection
Artbank