Discover more about the artwork at Spaceful.
Antoinette Ferwerda
Winter Gossamer
Synthetic polymer paint, ink and collage with UV matte varnish, framed in black painted oak
100 x 100 cm
Antoinette uses a variety of media to create work that is abstract and metaphysical, looking deeply into the interconnectivity of the world around her. Combining a minimalistic approach with a focus on design embodying a modern style with a preference for luxury minimalism.
Antoinette Ferwerda is an Australian artist known for creating bold artworks with a masterful use of colour and texture. After a rich journey with many twists and turns – studying visual communication, working in the pharmaceutical industry, dipping her toes into the fashion world –
she now creates an inspiring output of original artworks. Using her signature collage techniques and captivating eye for colour, her work explores abstract and metaphysical interpretations of the natural world and the wide range of life forms that call it home.
Antoinette Ferwerda
Rosewood Gossamer
Synthetic Polymer Paint and Collage with UV Gloss Varnish on Canvas
104 x 184 cm
Sarrita King
Ancestors
Acrylic on Canvas
120 x 180 cm
She is the younger sister to fe low artist, Tarisse King, and daughter to the late highly regarded artist, Wi liam King Jungala (1966 – 2007). She inhereted her Gurindji and Waanyi ancestry through her father, who came to public attention during the 1960s and 1970s when him and other members of the Gurindji tribe employed by the Wave Hi l cattle station led a landmark case which became the first successful land
rights claim in Australia.
Sarrita spent most of her youth growing up in Darwin in the Northern Territory. Not far from where her ancestors inhabited, it is here that her connection to her Aboriginality and subsequently the land was able to grow. Her exposure to the imperious weather and extreme landscape has provided the theme for her works of art, since she began painting at age 16. Rolling sand hils, cracking lightning and thunderstorms, torrential rain, fire, desert and tangled bush are all scathing environmental factors that shaped her forefather’s lives and also her own. Depicting these elements in her paintings, Sarrita provides a visual articulation of the earth’s language.
Stylistically, Sarrita utilises traditional Aboriginal techniques such as ‘dotting’ but also incorporates unorthodox techniques inherited from her late father, as well as self-developed practices. Her art is a fusion of the past, present and future and represents the next generation of artists who have been influenced by both their indigenous history, and current Western upbringing. Sarrita creates frenetic energy on the canvas with her Lightning series and searing heat with her Fire series. Her aesthetic has a universal appeal and provides an entry point for people to experience the power and uniqueness of the Australian landscape and its harsh climate. On a world scale, her depictions couldn’t be more seasonable and well-timed.
Sarrita has been included in numerous exhibitions, is represented in galleries in every Australian state, included in many high profile Australian and international art co lections and been auctioned many times successfully through Paris’s Art Curial Auction house.
After 3 years living and painting in Canberra, Sarrita returned back to Darwin, where she spent most of her childhood. Although young, Sarrita King has many personal achievements but it is her desire to visually communicate her inspiration and the land, which keeps her ancestral narrative alive and provides a new way of looking back while looking forward.
Sarrita King
Ngurra
Acrylic on Canvas
90 x 120 cm
Raymond Walters Penangke
Ankerre Jukurrpa (Emu Feathers)
Acrylic on Canvas
150 x 250 cm
Raymond Walters Penangke was born in 1975 in Mt Nancy, an Indigenous Australian settlement on the edge of Alice Springs. Alice Springs is located in the Red Centre of Australia and also known as the “Aboriginal Art Capital”. Penangke counts among his extended family members many well-known First Nations artists, such as grandfather Jack Cook Ngale, late grandmothers Emily Kngwarreye and Minnie Pwerle, Aunties Gloria Petyerre, Barbara Weir, Margaret Scobie, Ada Bird Petyerre, Kathleen Petyerre, and his Uncle Lindsay Bird.
Penangke paints several Dreaming Stories, amongst which those inherited from his grandfather’s Country Yuelamu (Mt Allan) and his grandmother’s Country Boundry Bore, Alhalkerre (Utopia). With his striking contemporary artworks in their bright colours and uniquely personal abstracted style, Penangke honours his sacred cultural heritage, as we l as deeply connecting with audiences far beyond his community.
Besides being a successful artist, Penangke is an active community educator and activist. About his upbringing, he states ‘raised on town camps and in remote communities, I know first-hand the hardships and challenges we face every day as a community. My life experiences have helped build the resilience, optimism and confidence needed to navigate life as an Aboriginal man.’ In 2023, Penangke launched Penangke Colaborative Cultural Consultancy, which aims to support and promote reconciliation initiatives and cultural advocacy efforts for First Nations People.
