Joanne has realised a highly charged individual style that, although instantly recognisable as Aboriginal, speaks of her journey as an artist moving within cultures. The importance of the river as a metaphor is a constant in Joanne’s painting, as this takes her back to the hardships of her early life living on the banks of the Maranoa River. Her paintings speak of the river as a living entity; the rippling of the surface and the changes on the water can be seen as the many different events of her own life. In 2008, she won The Wynne Prize at AGNSW and has been a finalist numerous times in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Award. Joanne’s work is held in numerous private and public collections including Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Brisbane. Text
Image: Joanne Currie Nalingu, Evening flow, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 110x120cm
