Martina Parry was born in 1960, in the Daly River region of the Northern Territory. Her homeland, Wudikapildiyerr is situated amid wetlands and floodplains west of the Daly River Aboriginal Reserve around 300 kilometres south-west of Darwin. The subject matter of Martina’s works is based around her country, food gathering and the practice of weaving fibre art, and stems directly from her experiences of living in the bush.

The scale of her works allows for a multitude of experiences from that of an up-close encounter with the fascinating craftsmanship of weaving to a long-distance view depicting her country and allowing for this intricacy to be seen in a more contextual sense. It is this transient quality that renders the visual experience of Martina’s work so unique and captivating. Martina’s aesthetic is representative of the emergence of a new contemporary wave from the region. The works are at once fresh with the sophisticated integrity of a grand tradition but are imbued with a new sense of freedom. This characteristic of her paintings makes her work readily palatable as her unique visual language has a universal beauty that can be appreciated by Indigenous and Contemporary art lovers alike.

Martina is the sister of world-renowned artists Ada Parry and Regina Wilson.

Group Exhibitions:

1993, The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin