Barbara Weir with 'Spinifex grass'
Everyone grows up expecting that people around them will automatically understand what they are saying. But Aboriginal artist Barbara Weir has twice lost the ability to easily grasp the world around her.
The first time was as a girl after she was stolen from her family in central Australia by white authorities in the 1950s. Because she was taken before she was 10 (she is uncertain exactly when), in acquiring English she then lost the ability to speak her mother's languages from around what is now the Aboriginal settlement of Utopia in the Northern Territory.
Her father, Irish-Australian Jack Weir, had been a married property owner and she was living with her mother, Minnie Pwerle, and her people when she was seized.
"When I went back to find my mum in 1968 it was scary for me because I couldn't speak her languages any more," she says.
"I was frightened the first time because it was a different world from what I knew."
It is a tribute to Weir's fighting spirit and adaptability that she is now a noted citizen in both the black and white worlds. As well as selling her art around the world, she is also in a position to help the communities around Utopia.
Excerpt taken from “Joining dots on the way to Utopia” by Robin Usher, The Age, July 15, 2004.
Exhibitions
2003
“Light
Over Utopia” Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2002
“Generations”
Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2001
“Out
of Utopia”, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
Alison
Kelly Gallery, Armadale, Melbourne
Selected
artist to be included in YPO Conference in Sydney, NSW
‘Painting
Country”, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide
“Desert
Colour, My Country”, Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin
“Women
Artists of the Australian Desert”, Gallery 2021, Auckland, New Zealand
“Two
Women Dreamings” (with Gloria Petyarre), Dreamtime Gallery Santa Fe, New
Mexico, USA
“2001
An Art Odyssey” celebrating The Centenary of Federation, West End:
Adelaide’s Art Precinct
“Reunited”,
Alison Kelly Gallery, Armadale, Melbourne
Mixed
Utopia Exhibition, Knut Grothe Galeri, Charlottlenlund, Copenhagen
“Paintings
From Utopia”, Framed Gallery, Darwin
Galeri
a Le Temps Du Reve, France
“Contemporary
Aboriginal Art From The Utopia Region”, BMGART, Adelaide, SA
2000
"An
Affair to Remember", ArtSauce, Singapore
Solo
Exhibition, "Gathering the Past", Redback Art Gallery, Brisbane
Solo
Exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney
Quadrivium
Gallery, Sydney
Tandanya
Cultural Institute, Adelaide
Gordes,
Vaucluse, France
DACOU
Gallery in association with AMP (Official sponsor of the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games), AMP Building, Sydney
Mary
Place Gallery, Sydney
Redlands
Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
‘Women’s
Business”, Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago, USA
1999
'Utopia",
BMG Art, Adelaide
"Bush
Garden", Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
Utopia
V, Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney
"Caring
For Country", Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide
16th
National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Solo
Exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery- Melbourne
Gallery
Savah, Sydney
North
Shore Fine Art, Sydney
Solo
Exhibition 'Dream Works", Gallery Savah, Sydney
1998
Art
Felchlin- Zurich, Switzerland
Gallery
Griffiouen, Belgium
Boomerang
Gallery, Amsterdam
Kunsdcentoum
Aalst, Belgium
Kunsdcentoum
Dendermonde, Belgium
Frank
Popko Gallery, Rees, Germany
Ebes
Collection, Workum, Netherlands
Jack
Ellis Exhibition, Seattle, USA
"Women
Painters Of The Desert', FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
ARTEXPO
New York in association with Mandurah Ltd New York.
"Utopia
IV" Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney
Solo
exhibition, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
SCECGS
Redlands, Sydney
15th
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for 1998
Flinders
Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Adelaide
Festival Theatre, Adelaide
1997
Quadrivium
Gallery, Sydney NSW
DACOU
Gallery, Adelaide
Hogarth
Gallery, Sydney
“Dreamings
of the Desert” Artist in residence program, Art Gallery of South
Australia
Solo
exhibition at DACOU Gallery, Adelaide
Flinders
Lane Gallery, Melbourne
“Ten
Years On”, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
Quadrivium
Gallery, Sydney, NSW
14th
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Solo
exhibition, Barry Stern Gallery- Sydney
FireWorks
Gallery, Brisbane
1996
Framed Gallery, Darwin
Gallery
Woo Mang & Partners, Paris, France
Flinders
Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Quadrivium
Gallery, Sydney
Solo
exhibition at Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
1995
DACOU
Gallery, Adelaide
Davis
Avenue Gallery, Melbourne
Art
Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
National
Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Art
Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane
Hank
Ebes Collection
Holmes
a Court Collection
Hitachi
AMP
Macquarie
Bank