Janterrji - Dolly Hole
Natural Pigment
on composition board
80 x 100 cm
(31.5 x 39.4 in)
Signed on reverse PB
2004
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According to anthropologist Dr Frances Kofod, 'Janterrji is a place where the artist's family have a small outstation. It is near a water-hole known by Europeans as Dolly Hole. It is an important place where dreamtime women conducted their special ceremonies.'
The subject matter of Bedford’s paintings is drawn from the artist’s two main and very different sources of knowledge and experience. The dramatic Kimberley landscape around Bedford Downs and the historical events that took place there and intersect with the ever present Ngarranggarni or Dreaming, the parallel time dimension where the landscape, animals and plants were created and in which the laws determining behavior and tradition were established. His paintings also present a dichotomy of viewing, powerful and bold forms, reminiscent of physical features of the Kimberley, are surrounded by expansive delicate washes of muted color, presenting a contrast between powerful physicality and great sensitivity. Simple in their composition as they are complex in the underlying stories they tell, such as the Emu, Bush Turkey and Cockatoo Dreamings of his family.
