 Barbara Weir "My Mother's Country" Cat No. 10572 Size = 93 x 122 cm. Acrylic on Linen |
 Barbara Weir "My Mother's Country" Cat No. 10571 Size = 122 x 185 cm. Acrylic on Linen |
Barbara Weir
Born: 1945
Region: Central Desert
Community: Utopia
Art Centre: Utopia Batik And Arts
Outstation: Atnwengerrp
Language: Anmatyerre, Alyawarr
Social Affiliation: Pwerle Subsection
Subjects: Grass seed, bush berry, Awelye.
Collections:
AMP
Artbank
Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane.
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
Macquarie Bank.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane.
Exhibitions:
Barbara Weir
Born: 1945
Region: Central Desert
Community: Utopia
Art Centre: Utopia Batik And Arts
Outstation: Atnwengerrp
Language: Anmatyerre, Alyawarr
Social Affiliation: Pwerle Subsection
Subjects: Grass seed, bush berry, Awelye.
Collections:
AMP
Artbank
Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane.
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
Macquarie Bank.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane.
Individual Exhibitions:
2000 - Gathering the Past, Redback Art Gallery, Brisbane; Gallery Savah, Sydney.
1999 - Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne; Dream Works, Gallery Savah, Sydney.
1997 - DACOU Gallery, Adelaide; Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney.
1996 - Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane.
Chapman Gallery, Canberra.
Group Exhibitions:
2006 - Utopia, Galerie DAD, France; The second Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition,
Shalom College, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
2004 - Barbara Weir and Friends from Utopia NT, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney.
2003 - Light Over Utopia, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA.
2002 - Reunited, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne; Knut Grothe Galeri, Charlottlenlund,
Copenhagen; Paintings From Utopia, Framed, Darwin, NT; Galeri a Le Temps Du Reve France;
Contemporary Aboriginal Art From The Utopia Region, BMG ART, Adelaide; Generations,
Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA.
2001 - Out of Utopia, Chapman Gallery Canberra; Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne;
Painting Country, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA; Desert Colour, My Country,
Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin, NT; Women Artists of the Australian Desert,
Gallery 2021, Auckland, New Zealand; Two Women Dreamings, Dreamtime Gallery Santa Fe,
New Mexico, USA (exhibited with Gloria Petyarre); 2001 An Art Odyssey, West End: Adelaide.
2000 - An Affair to Remember, ArtSauce, Singapore; Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney; Tandanya
Cultural Institute, Adelaide; Gordes, Vaucluse, France; DACOU in association with AMP,
Sydney; Mary Place Gallery, Sydney; Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney;
Women?s Business, The Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago, USA.
1999 - Utopia, BMG Art, Adelaide; Bush Garden, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA; Utopia
V, Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney; Caring For Country, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide;
16th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of
the Northern Territory, Darwin; Gallery Savah, Sydney; North Shore Fine Art, Sydney.
1998 - Women Painters Of The Desert, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane; ARTEXPO New York in
association with Mandurah Ltd New York; Utopia IV, Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney; SCECGS
Redlands, Sydney; 15th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum
and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne;
The Adelaide Festival Theatre; Art Felchlin, Zurich, Switzerland; Gallery Griffiouen,
Belgium; Boomerang Gallery, Amsterdam; Kunsdcentoum Aalst, Belgium; Kunsdcentoum Dendermonde,
Belgium; Frank Popko Gallery, Rees, Germany
1997 - Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney NSW; DACOU Gallery, Adelaide; Hogarth Gallery, Sydney;
Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne; Ten Years On, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne; Quadrivium Gallery,
Sydney; 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery
of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Fire-Works Gallery,Brisbane.
1996 - Framed, Darwin; Gallery Woo Mang and Partners, Paris, France; Flinders Lane Gallery,
Melbourne; Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney.
1995 - DACOU Gallery, Adelaide; Davis Avenue Gallery, Melbourne
Select Bibliography:
Contemporary Aboriginal Art by Susan McCulloch, 1999.
Emily Kame Kngwarreye: Alhalkere, Paintings from Utopia, ed. Margo Neale, 1998
Emily Kngwarreye Paintings, D. Holt, T. Smith, and National Gallery of Victoria, 1998
The Art of Utopia: A New Direction in Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Michael Boulter, 1991
© Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Notes:
Barbara Weir was born in 1945 at what was formerly known as Bundy River Station. Her
country is Atnwengerrp and her language is Anmatyerre and Alyawarr. Barbara's mother
(Minnie Pwerle) is Aboriginal and her father is Irish, and as she was of a mixed heritage,
she was taken away from her family at the age of nine. This was a common event for
half caste children at that time, and these people are now known as the stolen generation.
Barbara was fostered out to various families, first in Alice Springs, then in Victoria,
and Darwin. During these years she lost contact with her family but was determined to
return and re-claim her heritage.
In the late 1960s Barbara and her six children returned to Utopia. There she was re-united
with Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who had looked after her as a child. The reunion was a happy
one although Barbara was unable to communicate with the family, as she did not know the
language. Eventually, Barbara mastered both the Anmatyerre and Alyawarr languages.
On returning to her home and her unique relationship with Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Barbara
became interested in painting. In 1994, Barbara and other Aboriginal women travelled to
Indonesia to learn more about the art of batik. She returned from Indonesia full of ideas
for developing her own style. Her main dreamings are Bush Berry Dreaming, Grass Seed and
Wild Flower.
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