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Freddie Timms - Ngarrmaliny - Janama (1946) Freddie Timms was born at Police Hole near Foal Creek on Bedford Downs Station south west of Warmun (Turkey Creek). His Gija name, Ngarrmaliny, is the same as that of his birthplace. He spent his childhood on Bow River and Lissadell Stations then worked as a stockman, handyman and fencer on several stations throughout the East Kimberley. He knew Rover Thomas when they both worked at Bow River and Texas Downs and danced and helped paint boards for early performances of Thomas's Gurirr-Gurirr. When they were all living at Frog Hollow south of Turkey Creek in the 1980s and Joel Smoker of Waringarri Arts brought canvases to Jack Britten, Rover Thomas, Hector Jandany and his father-in-law George Mung-Mung, Timms asked for canvases as well. He has not stopped painting since then. Timms paints in a style reminiscent of Thomas but distinctly his own, with flat expanses of paint accentuated by white dots. Many of his pictures resemble aerial maps of the bones of the country where he lived and worked all his life. Timms mapping combines a topographic level showing features of the landscape such as black soil, red soil, sandy ground, hills, creeks and water holes with an historical and spiritual level showing roads, stock yards, homesteads and Dreaming places. Much of the country where he worked on Lissadell, a frequent painting subject, is now under the water of Lake Argyle formed by the damming of the Ord River. He says "I think about the country where I was walking and camping, all the main water holes, all the camping areas. I remember the places where I used to go mustering and I follow them up with my painting." Freddie Timms is one of the few Aboriginal artists from a traditional background who on occasion seeks to make a political statement in his work. A striking example of this is Whitefella - Blackfella that describes the position of Aboriginal people in Australia. In a large black canvas four symbolic figures are strategically placed with the “Whitefella” at the top followed by the yellow “Chinaman” then the African, then the “Blackfella”, ‘right down at the bottom'. He tells of the tragic history of the first 50 years after the arrival of Europeans in the East Kimberley when at least half the black population was murdered. The survivors including the artist and his family worked on the stations, not because they wanted to, but because they were frightened of being shot. Once people gained access to some land of their own such as the outstation at Frog Hollow they did not want to work for the station owners any more. Freddie Timms is also unusual in that he managed to break away from the common exploitation by dealers who give Aboriginal artists a small amount of money up front for each canvas and take the major profit for themselves. While in Melbourne in 1996 he met Tony Oliver, who used to own Reconnaissance Gallery there. Timms showed him the 300 dollars he received for a month's painting with a Melbourne art dealer. Shocked, Oliver introduced him to long term Sydney gallery owner Frank Watters who agreed to show his work on equal terms with European artists with paintings sold on consignment. As well as solo exhibitions at Watters Gallery, in 1998 he participated in a combined show there with non-Aboriginal artist Ken Whisson described by reviewer John McDonald in the Sydney Morning Herald as 'a wonderfully fertile 'compare and contrast' exhibition of landscapes'. Timms proceeded to set up Jirrawun Arts with Tony Oliver to market work on a consignment basis for an increasingly wide group of Kimberley artists including Paddy Bedford, Hector Jandany, Rusty Peters, Churchill Cann, Goody Barrett, Phyllis Thomas and his father's brother Timmy Timms. He also helped initiate the Neminuwarlin Performance group with his aunt and lead singer and dancer Peggy Patrick. Timms has been a committee member of ANKAAA taking an active role in all ANKAA business. He represented Jirrawun at the Garma festival in 2003 telling participants about the consignment system and how Jirrawun “grew up like a tree”. The organization founded by Timms has continued to grow. During 2004 the new Jirrawun Arts, registered as a company limited by guarantee with the ASIC and listed on the Register of Cultural Organisations with the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, took over from Jirrawun (Aboriginal Art) Aboriginal Corporation. Timms was elected president of the new company at the inaugural board meeting in May 2004. Timms’ work is represented in all major collections in Australia and has been shown in galleries throughout the world including Germany (Aratjara: Art of the First Australians, Koln, 1993), Tokyo, Chicago (Art Chicago 1996), Paris (Baudoin Lenbon, FAIC, 1996), Auckland (Gow Langford Gallery 1999-2000) and Miami (GrantPirrie at Art Miami USA - Rhapsodies in Country 2002). He was one of only four Aboriginal artists represented in an exhibition titled A Century of Collecting 1901 - 2001 held at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery at the University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts in 2001. Timms’ six panel work Blackfella Creek appeared as part the Blood on the Spinifex exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne during December 2002 to March 2003. His work also appeared in True Stories: Art of the East Kimberley at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. One of Timms’ Ned Kelly pictures was included in the exhibition Kelly Culture: Reconstructing Ned Kelly at the State Library of Victoria in 2003. The Ned Kelly Encyclopedia published the same year featured a Freddie Timms Ned Kelly on the back cover with a Sidney Nolan Ned Kelly on the front cover. In 2004 his two panel work, Stoney Creek, Sally Malay Mine, was included in the exhibition Terra Alterius at Ivan Dougherty Gallery at the University of New South Wales. In 2005 two major works by Timms formed part of the Jirrawun Artists’ exhibition Beyond the Frontier at Sherman Galleries in Sydney. His work was also featured in the exhibitions Interesting Times Focus on Contemporary Australian Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and Jirrawun in the House A Contemporary Experience from the East Kimberley at Parliament House in Canberra. © Jirrawun Arts and Freddie Timms Solo Exhibitions 2004 2003 2002 1999 1998 1997 Group Exhibitions 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 - 2000 1999 1998-99 1998 1997 1996 1995 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 Commissions 2006 Collections National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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