Queenie McKenzie Mooloogoor Hills

Queenie McKenzie Mooloogoor Hills

Biography:

Queenie McKenzie is one of the best-known East Kimberley painters.

Queenie was born some time before 1930 at Old Texas Downs on the west side of the Ord River in the East Kimberley. Her mother was a Malngiin/Gurindji woman and her father was a white horse-breaker.  As a young child of mixed parentage, and to avoid being taken away from her family, her mother resorted to blackening her with charcoal.

For most of her life, Queenie worked as a cook on cattle stations until 1973 when she settled in Warnum (Turkey Creek). She became a senior member of the Warnum community, a teacher of Gija language and culture, and played a significant role in native title claims within the region.  Queenie was also the driving force behind the reintroduction of women’s law meetings in the East Kimberley in the early 1980s.

As she observed the artists at Warnum she was inspired to take up painting herself, creating works depicting her country.

Her work was clearly inspired by Rover Thomas, with the use of natural ochres, blending landscape with local events, family and Dreaming stories.  Once Queenie started to paint with the Waringarri Aboriginal Arts community in Kununurra during the 1990s, her work came to be noticed by the market. Distinguishable by her pink and purple ochres, Queenie’s work was included in a major Kimberley exhibition held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1992, with her first solo exhibition shortly thereafter.  She also added printmaking to her repertoire.

One of her strongest motivations in working as an artist was to inspire younger artists and help with maintaining her culture.  She was instrumental in establishing the first wholly owned art centre for Giji artists in the Warnum community – Warnum Arts opened in 1998.

View

Works held in the collection of Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Geelong Art Gallery, and a portrait of Queenie McKenzie by Greg Weight is held in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McCulloch S., Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Allen & Unwin, 1999