This beautiful painting by Jorna Newberry is currently available for purchase, please enquiry for full details.
It is with deep sadness and regret that we share with you the news of the sudden passing of Jorna Newberry, one of our very gifted and unique First Nations artists, the creator of truly intricate and mesmerising works, through which she shared the stories and legends of the Pitjantjatjara people.
Ken McGregor – Leading Australian Indigenous art collector and philanthropist, has noted, “Her paintings refer to her country and are associated with significant traditional places of spiritual knowledge and the ancestral stories, which are imbedded in the land.”
They narrate the story of the Perentie lizard, which is of ancestral and totemic significance. The overall patterns of the works reflect the patterning on the scales of the lizard, while the undulating lines reference tracks that the lizard leaves in the sand. People follow these tracks as they lead them to the sources of food and water as well as to the lizard itself: being the fourth largest lizard in the world, Perentie is an important source of protein for the remote indigenous communities. The story of the self-sacrificing lizard, which leads to the sources of food and becomes food, has touched hearts and minds of many collectors and followers of Jorna’s art.
Each painting by Jorna is the story of survival of the First Nations’ people in the most inhospitable conditions for tens of thousands of years. Each painting is akin to the page or chapter from the Pitjantjatjara narratives. Larger paintings appear as spatial constructs depicting annual peregrinations of the lizard. Its feet traverse speedily and tirelessly the immense expanse of the Western Desert’s terrain. Topographical markers are intermingled with ancient song lines. Each work is remarkable for its compositional coherence and near-calligraphic mark-making of delicate touches of white, beige, and pale yellow against the stark background of black.
To her community in the Northern Territory, Jorna was a matriarchal figure, offering multifaceted support to her immediate and extended family, and the community at large. As Ken McGregor has observed: “My dear friend Jorna Newberry was an extremely gifted artist. She was humble, quiet, almost shy but was a strong woman who always gave more than what was expected. Her generosity was well known, she spent much time and effort mentoring, encouraging and supporting her extended family and friends. She lived a frugal and simple life always looking after others, was multilingual and when needed was a translator for Government departments. I’m very fortunate to have spent so much time in her studio, what I’ll miss most is her infectious squeal and laughter.”
There is a stunning timber sculpture painted by Jorna Newberry currently available for purchase, please enquiry for full details.
Gallery One has had the pleasure of connecting Jorna’s work with our collectors, where many of Jorna’s large-scale paintings, timber sculptures and smaller works have pride of place in your homes. It feels far to soon to loose such a talent and now an artist who created such spectacular work is no longer with us, the loss is acutely felt and her impact wont be forgotten.
We express our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to Jorna Newberry’s immediate and extended family, her community, her friends, colleagues, and supporters.
