As a teenager and later as an adult he worked as a stockman on Bedford Downs and on the Old Lissadell Station.
Jaminji was the first painter to take up residence at Turkey Creek in what later amounted to a mass Aboriginal exodus from station properties in the mid 1970’s following a strike.
This exhibition conincides with the return to Western Australia of the Rover Thomas. I want to paint. touring exhibition, and features works by Paddy Jaminji, Rover’s mother’s brother or ‘uncle’, who was the inspiration behind Rover’s decision to paint.
Most people are unaware that Paddy was the artist who produced the initial artworks for the in the late 1970’s. He produced these paintings based on a dream had by Rover Thomas.
Paddy’s themes were always derived frm his owns beliefs and experiences. Working with ochres and natural resins his paintings were both bold and textured, but trachoma wreaked havoc with his eyesight and his work declined until 1987 by which time he was blind.
While Paddy jaminji died in 1996 he played a seminal role in the development of the art of the east kimberley and hos work reminds us of that period in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when Kimberley indigenous art blossomed.
This exhibition features works from the Holmes à Court Collection with one inclusion from the Edith Cowan University Art Collection.
Related link: Rover Thomas. I want to paint
