© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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“This bush woman bin come from my country (from Rattigan’s Yard). She went east to live, to get married that way (in Oongbul, aka Corkwood Yard).”
In Shirley’s painting, there is a big cave (big dark space in the centre). The cave is in Corkwood Yard, and can only be seen by helicopter, because it has too many big hills to access by land. Yarralalil was a bush woman who lived in that cave. When Shirley’s family (her father and uncle) used to go mustering in Corkwood Yard, they used to see the bush woman come out of the cave (she is portrayed as the black circle, dotted with white). Shirley chose to depict the woman this way because she wanted to indicate her position, or where she was sighted. Yarralalil lived as a bush woman alone in that cave, without any influence from the external world.
This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.
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