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Students of generations of famous painters at Warmun's Art Centre, Dwayne Jessell and Troy Drill's unique Kimberley self-portraits are finalists at this year's Lester Prize.
Art ists Dwayne Jessell and Tony Drill will carry the hopes of the small remote community of Warmun into this year's Lester Prize. The two Gija men are both from Warmun, a small community in Western Australia's remote north east, 3,000 kilometres north of Perth and 1,000km south of Darwin.
It has one shop, a dusty airstrip, a few boab trees, and two finalists in one of Australia's most prestigious portraiture prizes. It's Jessell's second time as a Lester Prize finalist, while emerging artist Drill is making his debut. The style of their self-portraits is unique, but both reflect the artists' deep connection to their country, culture and community.
"It made me proud," he says. Jessell's father, Jack Britten, a co-founder of the Warmun Art Centre, taught him to paint.
"My dad thought I wasn't paying attention … but I kept a lot in my head. " Both artists see their work as continuing the legacy of friends, family and neighbours who came before them. Challenging history for cultural hubWhile the flood was devastating, Jessell says the Gija community showed its strength in its response.
"That's why we get these arts centres — to remind the younger generation to know where they stand," he said. "To never forget who they are as an Aboriginal person and never lose that dream, never lose our culture, our law and our country. "Troy Drill says Jessell and the other older artists at the centre are a constant source of help and encouragement.
"The first time I came here, I didn't know nothing about painting; they told me 'have a try, I'll show you'," he says. "We have good times, sometimes bad, then we keep on working," he said. "I know I'm blessed because of my old man and my people around here who work alongside me. "Even in the Kimberley heat — temperatures in town routinely hit the high 30s at this time of year — Warmun artists paint together outside.
While Jessell's prize-contending self portrait is a linoprint, he, Drill and many other local artists work predominantly with ochre. The natural earth pigment is extracted the old fashioned way, from the surrounding hills with crowbars, water and a bucket. University of Western Australia art history expert Darren Jorgensen said the body of ochre paintings produced from Warmun has had a distinct contribution to world art.
"Warmun has the most distinctive history of all the Aboriginal art movements in Western Australia," Professor Jorgensen said. "The colours in the Kimberley are rich and bright and vibrant. They're the colours of red and brown and the white from underneath the rivers.
"To this day, they're really the only art centre across Australia that's exclusively working with ochre. " He said Warmun's ochre painting and portrayals of Purnululu were unique, carrying similar significance to Arnhem Land's bark paintings, or the dot painting style pioneered by artists in the Northern Territory. Both Jessell and Drill say the defining features of their Lester Prize's self-portraits reflect the landscape around them.
Jessell says the stripes on the hills and creases of the skin were one, speaking to both identity and geography.
"It represents who we are, where we come from, and the land our old people walked before us, the marks, you can see it on the hill. "ABC Kimberley — local news in your inbox
Lester Prize Portrait Ochre Gija Australian Art Warmun Art Indigenous Art Dwayne Jessell Troy Drill Warmun Art Centre Warmun Art Kimberley Art Kimberley Artists Art In The Kimberley Kimberley Portraits East Kimberley Wa News Kimberley News
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