Sade Carrington
from Warmun Community

Background:
Age: 51 years
SubsectionSkin: Nambin
Language: Gija
Born: Texas Downs Station

Biography
Sade Carrington Buddbarria (bush name Dalimbal) was born at Balanygerre (Texas Downs Cattle Station) near Warmun in 1957. Her parents Betty Carrington Budbarria and Beerbee Mungnari are also artists. Carrington has been influenced by many of the early painters of Warmun including Hector Jandany, Jack Britten, Queenie McKenzie and Rover Thomas. 'I was one of the first artists to start painting, along with my father Beerbee,' she says. 'Before Warmun Art Centre started we'd [Queenie and I] just come in [to the old post office garden] and sit down and start painting.'
Carrington was schooled at Beagle Bay Mission when she was four and was allowed to see her family for only two weeks a year. At thirteen, she was sent to the Pallentine Mission in Rossmoyne, Perth and attended St Joachims Ladies College. At fifteen she returned to Texas to marry.


Themes:
Carrington started painting at the age of thirteen, using traditional ochre. The stories she paints are from her family's country, Texas Downs Station, as well as her great-grandmother's country, Purnululu (the Bungle Bungles). 'Jack Britten taught me how to do Bungle Bungles,' she says, commenting that men don't usually teach women, but in the late 1980s there were not many young men fit to be painters. Carrington's paintings are a tribute to her country and the connection she has been taught primarily by her mother, Betty Carrington.
Carrington now lives both in Darwin and Warmun community. She has travelled extensively throughout Australia and overseas. Carrington brings to her work her experience and awareness of the contemporary international art world, combining this with her intimate knowledge of Gija culture, country, history and language.

Medium
Natural ochre on Canvas
Themes
Darrajayin Country (Springvale Station)
Massacre stories occurring on Gija lands
Well-known landscapes in Gija country
Traditional Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) stories from Texas country

Education:




Awards / Grants:
1997 Darwin Art Award - Third prize, open category


Group Exhibitions:
2008 'The Women of Warmun: Ten years on', Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2008 'New Voices in Gija Art', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic
2007 'Dog Dreamings', Seva Frangos Art, Perth, WA
2007 'Ochre, Brushes, Canvas: new work from Warmun', Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2007 'Warmun Snapshot', Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin, NT
2000 Australian Heritage Commission's 5th National Heritage Art Award, Canberra, ACT
1999 Sixteenth National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum & Art Gallery
of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
1997 'Women's Dreaming Exhibition', London, UK
1997 'Contemporary Australian & Aboriginal Artists Exhibition', Amsterdam, Holland
1997 'Dreaming Exhibition', Arnhem, Holland
1997 Selected for the Fourteenth National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award,
Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
1994 Presented the Duchess of York with one of her paintings as part of the Royal Tour
1994 'Kids of Warmun', Tandanya, Adelaide, SA


Collections:
Presented the Duchess of York with one of her paintings as part of the Royal Tour