Wrestling with white spirit
1990
Medium
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Measurements
76.0 × 50.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through the NGV Foundation by Violet Sheno, Member, 2005
© Trevor Nickolls/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
Gallery 10
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
During postgraduate studies at the Victorian College of Arts in 1979, Trevor Nickolls met Anmatyerre man Dinny Nolan Tjampitjinpa, who had been working in the Northern Territory artistic community of Papunya throughout the decade. Nickolls and Tjampitjinpa exchanged ideas, aesthetics and stories, compelling Nickolls to consider how he could devise a pictorial field that explored the tensions, problems and synergies between Western and First Nations art histories. In the 1980s, Nickolls coined the term ‘Dreamtime-Machinetime’ to consider the tension between First Peoples’ relationship to Country and the destructive nature of imperialism and capitalism.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Adelaide, South Australia
Inscription
inscribed in pencil on reverse u.l.: Wrestling with white spirit
inscribed in blue ballpoint pen on reverse u.r.: CA / # 015. 022 .90
Accession Number
2005.517
Department
First Nations Australia
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation