McDouall and the Rainbow Serpent

Kym Needle’s personal attachment to the Australian landscape and the journeys he has made through it provides a wealth of inspiration for his work.

Through a Western European tradition of painting, Kym explores an essentially alien landscape and strives to come to terms with the European involvement in that landscape. By contrast, Kym also highlights the thousands of years of travelling that the Aboriginal peoples of Australia have made through their lands.

Australian land explorations by Europeans, which began around the late 18th Century, largely ignored the first people who lived there: the Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia. This great land mass had never been explored by Europeans who classified this seemingly empty environment as Terra Nullius, ‘land belonging to no-one.’

An exception to this was John McDouall Stuart, who used the desert people as guides to the carefully protected sources of water on the route.

Henry Marsh creates poems in response to Kym needles paintings.

ANGUSalive’s Visual Arts Officer Gill Ross said ‘We are delighted to be opening this fascinating exhibition, McDouall and the Rainbow Serpent.’ The depth of Kym’s own experience of the Australian landscape and research into its history is captured in a snapshot of paint layered over some unconventional ‘canvases.’ Black and white photographs cannot compare to the vibrancy of the Australian landscape. The compartmented nature of these works make me think of the explorers who may be unaware of the Aboriginal cultures embedded in the lands history and the spirits watching over. Henry’s poems add an extra dimension to these pieces, bringing the stories to life.’

McDouall and the Rainbow Serpent
Exhibition open 28 Jul –6 Oct 2018 | opening times Tues – Sat 10am – 5pm
Montrose Museum & Art Gallery | Panmure Place |Montrose | DD10 8HF

Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/202576787090865/