Michael Jagamara Nelson AM

Pikilyi

1990

By the end of the 1980s, Michael Jagamarra Nelson AM was one of the most prominent artists in contemporary Aboriginal art. Like Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Nelson pioneered the creation of large-scale “map” paintings that included multiple ancestral narratives and sacred sites within colorful areas of dotting. In this work, Michael Nelson focuses on the important water site of Pikilyi, where two Rainbow Serpents battled over a woman. Down the center of the canvas, he overlays the tracks of the Rock Wallaby ancestor, who, after witnessing the snakes’ violent duel, decided not to linger at Pikilyi and continued east to take refuge in an underground cave.

Everybody calls me a famous artist–you know? But inside me–doesn’t. Old people famous. Best way… Us–Aboriginal way–a person is great because he’s done everything–see? Been right through the law. He’s a big man… You gotta just sit down quiet. Humble… You got to be strong in ceremony, not just art.

MICHAEL JAGAMARA NELSON AM

Language Group: Warlpiri
Dates: 1949-2020

Michael Jagamara Nelson AM was born at Pikilyi in the Northern Territory in 1949. His early life was spent living traditionally in the desert before his family moved to the settlement of Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff) and then Yuendumu where Michael attended school. He starting painting for Papunya Tula Artists in 1981 and just three years later was awarded first prize in the National Aboriginal Art Awards. In 1988, his painting Possum and Wallaby Dreaming, was used as the basis for a mosaic on the forecourt of the new Australian Parliament House. In 1988, he traveled to New York with fellow artist Bill Stockman Tjapaltjarri, to create a sand sculpture as part of the exhibition Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia at the Asia Society Galleries. In 1993, Michael Nelson was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to Aboriginal Art and awarded an Australia Council Visual Arts Board Artist’s Fellowship. He was also the subject of a major monograph by Vivien Johnson in 1997.

MICHAEL JAGAMARA NELSON AM, Pikilyi, 1990

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. 71 5/8 x 71 5/8 in. (181.93 x 181.93 cm). Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia,
Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997.
1990.7014.002.

Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Michael Jagamara Nelson, Prince Philip, Hazel Hawke, Jonathan Jupurrurla Nelson and William McIntosh at the opening of the Australian Parliament House, Canberra, 1988.

Photo courtesy of the National Archives of Australia.

Michael Nelson Jagamara and Imants Tillers collaborate on Metafisica Australe from the QAGOMA Foundation

Watch Michael Neson’s collaboration with Imants Tillers in this video

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