Doris Thomas, Camels and Donkeys, 40x40cm

• Artist - Doris Thomas
• Community - Alice Springs 
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Tangentyere Artists  
• Catalogue number - 7324-15
• Materials - Acrylic and acrylic marker on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H40 W40 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched and ready to hang

At Titjikala all the people go there for a ride on camels and donkeys. Some of the kids go to the sand hills while they are waiting for their turn.

Doris was born and grew up at Deep Well Station south of Alice Springs. Her mother a Luritja speaker was from Docker River way - and her father from Papunya. They worked at Deep Well Station but they have passed away now. Her whole family then moved to Titjikala Community. Doris married and had two children - one son who has passed away now, and one daughter who is still living. Doris is a grandmother. Doris has experience using many media - fabric painting, carving, poetry and painting. She has painted at Titjikala Arts and Craft Centre and Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra, and she also paints for Tangentyere Artists. She paints in the dot style, but also rich figurative landscapes of her family's country. Her Jukurrpa is Pigeon Rockhole. Doris has exhibited before and her work is in the Tennant Creek Cultural Centre's collection. More recently, Doris has produced intricate paintings (acrylic pen on board) that depict in acute detail her memories, past and present, and feature places like Alice Wells, Mount Charlotte and Titjikala.

Representing Aboriginal people from Town Camps, Tangentyere Artists is the only Aboriginal owned, not-for-profit painting studio and gallery in Alice Springs.

Figurative narrative paintings are the Tangentyere Artists’ signature style. By documenting sites and activities familiar to them, Town Camp artists afford their audience insight into their personal histories and everyday lives.

Accordingly, cultural and historical subject matter coexist with scenes of contemporary, urban life. This illuminates the artists’ intimate knowledge and negotiation of both worlds, a duality not well known or represented elsewhere.

The artists detail sites of cultural significance in country, the undertaking of cultural activity, scenes from outstations and recollections of pastoral experiences and mission days. Also represented are the day-to-day affairs of Town Camps; kangaroo tail cooking in the fire, children playing, families talking stories, drinking, playing cards and fixing cars.

Interactions with local police, service providers and townspeople are also intimately documented, with the backdrops revealing urban locations where people congregate, such as the Todd River bed or public lawns. Importantly, these scenes expose a complex temporal order and marginalised realities not well understood by mainstream consciousness.

The choice of subject matter and the way artists choose to illustrate it unwittingly challenges the orthodoxy of Aboriginal art. From behind the veil of more popular representations of Tjukurrpa emerge the actualities of everyday life for Aboriginal people in Central Australia.

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