Collectors Love: Maringka Baker

Senior Pitjantjatjara woman and artist Maringka Baker lives and paints in Docker River, Northern Territory. Baker’s works mirror Country, ancestral sites, waterways, Dreaming stories and lore that has passed throughout generations of Pitjantjatjara peoples. She has been exhibited and collected by many notable institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Baker’s significant near sell-out exhibition at Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne amidst the 2021 Melbourne lockdowns, titled Maringka Baker – A Survey, presented a series of paintings, blending vivid colours of dusty ochre to waterhole blue.

“The works in Maringka Baker – A Survey beautifully demonstrate Baker’s mastery of rich colour, her sophisticated composition, and the deep underlying connection she maintains to land and spirituality,” says Ashleigh Tuck, Tjungu Palya Art Centre manager. “Though no longer residing in Kanpi, Baker has strong ties and a rich legacy here, as a senior community member, a women’s lore keeper and a skilled artist.”

Much like the way Baker sits on the canvas to paint her work, her large-scale paintings swallow their viewers whole. Baker’s painting series depicts the Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Sisters creation story), a journey of two sisters who travel across Irrunytju (Wingellina Community) to Kaltukatjara (Docker River) back to their family. They shape the landscape as they go. Baker’s generous mapping of this journey is a snippet of a much larger picture, as the majority of the story remains protected within the community.

The time and rhythm Baker spent creating her work is reminiscent of the sisters tracing the path back home to their family. The deep brown, soft dawn pink and desert reds amass among the inky background in her works. This exhibition was a testament to Baker’s skill to bend light with her colour palette and her vision as a storyteller to move beyond the confines of her canvas.