Mossenson Galleries Collingwood in association with Waralungku Arts, Borroloola NT, is delighted to present Wild Times, the third solo exhibition by Garrwa/Yanyuwa artist Nancy McDinny. The exhibition will be opened at 6pm on Thursday 15 November 2007 by comedian, writer and producer Mick Molloy. Nancy McDinny will be travelling to Melbourne for the exhibition.

Nancy McDinny hails from Borroloola, south west of the Gulf of Carpentaria. This is a wild country in which crocodile-infested rivers tumble from stony ramparts through long and treacherous plains of deep sand and coastal scrub before making their way to the sea. For European settlers, this country represented Australia’s last great frontier. To its 2,500 Indigenous inhabitants, however, these lands had been the physical and spiritual home for more than 35,000 years. With the opening in the 1870s of the Coast Track – one of Australia’s largest and most profitable stock routes – these two cultures were thrown suddenly and often violently together. From pastoralists and prospectors to adventurers and rogues, the region attracted some of the most fascinating and often villainous figures in Australia’s pioneer history. As historian Tony Roberts has noted, the Gulf Country quickly became “the most colourful and lawless part of Australia’s last frontier.” These are the some of the wild times that Nancy McDinny recalls in her paintings.

In her paintings, Nancy recalls the stories of the Gulf frontier as they were told to her by her father Dinny McDinny and her grandfather Jim Ross. Her paintings show unique observations of the arrival of explorers and pastoralists like Leichhardt, along with dramatic evocations of the frontier, including cattle-running and bushrangers like the Monaghan Gang. The accuracy and attention to detail in Nancy’s depictions presents a profound vindication of oral sources that has been acclaimed by historians like Tony Roberts. In other works, she depicts the backbreaking work of Indigenous labourers on the salt-pans and cattle stations. According to Nancy, “The pay for shovelling salt was flour, tobacco, tea leaves, sugar and clothes; jeans, shirt and probably a hat.” For Nancy, these works are imbued with a deep personal significance, and she often draws attention to characters within her works such as her father Dinny McDinny, her husband Stewart Hoosan, and her sisters Myra, Linda, Isa and Kim.

For Nancy, these are the historic stories of the imposition of pastoral capital on to the traditional ways of her Garrwa and Yanyuwa peoples. In a vibrant palette of acrylics, she paints with a passion and urgency to record the history of her people. Since commencing painting in 2002, Nancy has exhibited to praise across Australia, with two sell-out exhibitions at Mossenson Galleries in 2005 and 2006. Nancy’s 2006 exhibition Making Contact was met with considerable acclaim, with six works being acquired by public collections, including the National Museum of Australia and the National Maritime Museum. At her exhibition opening in 2006, Nancy gave a moving speech, performing the songs and dances that accompany her works. Far from the tropical climes of her traditional country, her songs rang out with pride for her country and her traditional knowledge. In 2007, Nancy was selected as a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.

The Mossenson Galleries are proud to present Wild Times, a new exhibition from this important emerging artist. The exhibition will be opened at 6pm on Thursday 15 November 2007 by comedian, writer and producer Mick Molloy. Nancy McDinny will be travelling to Melbourne for the exhibition. For more information, please contact Mossenson Galleries Collingwood on (03) 9417 6694 or collingwood@mossensongalleries.com.au