Paddy Bedford

Called Paddy Bedford also Goowoomji and Nyunkuny, (* 1922 in Paddy Bedford in the east Kimberley, † 14 July 2007) was an important painter of the Aborigines who lived in Warmun and art direction East Kimberley School belonged.

Life

Bedford was named after the owner of the station Bedford Downs, the " give him my name ," exclaimed after the birth of the mother. On this cattle station Bedford as his parents worked in his early years as a drover only for food, drink and accommodation. When in 1969 the Australian government passed the law for equal pay for blacks and whites, the owner of Bedford Dow dismissed all Aborigines. He worked then for a time as a street laborer before he moved to Warmun at Turkey Creek with his family. He had two daughters.

Work

Portraits

Bedford had come as a young man with body painting in touch. He painted canvas around 1998, together with other artists of the East Kimberley School. His works deal with the landscape and were influenced by the eminent painters of this school Rover Thomas. He continued his work in traditional technique with strong and iconographic characteristics; they take with regard to relations between black and white, but also on historical circumstances of the country.

Dance Theatre

Years before the birth of Paddy were near the cattle station Bedford Down a massacre by the forced ingestion of poisoned meat to the Giya and Warla by white settlers because the Aborigine had hunted and killed a bull from hunger. This event has become known as Bedford -down massacre in history. See Bedford's presentation Two Women Looking at the Bedford Downs Massacre Burning Place from the year 2002.

Little known is that Bedford with his friend Timmi Timms created a dance theater on this subject and performed every now and then. The songs and the dance performance as well as the untold story took on the Neminuwarlin Performance Group, developed from the piece of Fire, fire burning bright which was performed at the International Arts Festival in Perth, in January 2002.

Exhibitions

Paddy exhibited in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Darwin, in Europe in Utrecht in 2009 and in Cologne 2010:

• Blood on the Spinifex, Ian Potter Museum of Art in Melbourne (2002-2003)
• Landmark, Mirror Mark, Drill Hall Gallery Australian National University and Columbia State University, USA ( 2000)
• Kluge - Rest Collection of Aboriginal Art, University of Virginia, USA ( 2000)
• Mapping Our Countries, Djamu Gallery, Australian Museum, Sydney (1999-2000)