Hunting food at Uluru

Living for most of his life in and around Kempsey on the New South Wales north coast, Robert Campbell Jnr developed a distinctive and singular iconography from an early age. His treatment of figures complete with red ‘ties’ or airways and his innovative approach to Arnhem Land X-ray style painting set him apart within the so-called ‘Urban Aboriginal’ art movement, which emerged in the 1970s. Campbell grew up at the Burnt Bridge Aboriginal Mission outside Kempsey, one of the abiding themes of his work becoming the loss of traditional skills and lifestyle and the racism faced by Aboriginal Australians.

Painted in 1988, the bicentenary of colonisation (a distinctly unceremonial occasion for Aboriginal and some non aboriginal Australians alike), this work flattens the picture plane with primary colours and bold rhythmic lines. Arguably Australia’s most iconic landmark, Uluru (then generally known as Ayers Rock) is central to the composition and is encircled by the hunter and the hunted. The animal and human figures recall the proliferation of hunting themes depicted in ancient rock-art sites, including those near Uluru.

Lisa Slade, Assistant Director, Artistic Programs