"One of my family", by William Nyaparu Gardiner
Acclaimed artist of the Spinifex Hill art centre in Port Hedland, William Gardiner Nyaparu’s eclectic painting was winner of the portrait prize in the Cossack Art Awards in 2018. With an ethereal quality, the painting depicts an Aboriginal man, or spirit, standing, leaning against the evocative landscape of the Pilbara country. The starkly painted figure and vibrant colours are reminiscent of Mid 20th Century Australian expressionism, though the whiteness of the figure brings to mind the ceremonial body painting of Indigenous cultures.