Caroline Narkle, Noongar artist, was born in Narrogin in Western Australia in 1957, the youngest of Bella Kelly and Largy Narkle’s four children. When she was five years old, she was taken away from her parents and brought to Wandering Mission (also known as St Francis Xavier Mission) with her sisters Cheryl and Lorrice and her brother Geoffrey Narkle . Caroline Narkle remained there until 1969, when she returned to be with her mother who was living on the Mt Barker reserve. Narkle remained in Mt Barker, where she married and had seven children. In 2008 she moved to Albany with her family.
Narkle began painting in her adult years, following in the footsteps of her mother, Bella, a renowned Noongar landscape artist whose work is admired throughout the Great Southern, South Coast and Southwest regions of Western Australia. Bella taught Narkle painting techniques, and Narkle regards her as her primary artistic influence. Her artistic skills developed further over four years of study in Visual Arts at Great Southern TAFE in Mount Barker and Albany. She feels indebted to TAFE lecturer Dianne Sheehan for her teaching, encouragement and friendship. Narkle’s landscape paintings bear some resemblance to those of her mother, and like Bella, she paints indoors, drawing on a mental image of places she has been or feels strongly attached to, rather than paintings directly from life. Narkle also paints her memories of being at Wandering Mission, such as the bell that would call the kids to meal times and church, or girls making beds and washing clothes.
In 2009 Narkle was included in the Brisbane Powerhouse exhibition 'The Legacy of Koorah Coolingah (The Legend of Children Long Ago)’, and the exhibition 'Noongar Koort Boodja – Noongar Heart Land’ at Gadfly Gallery in Perth. She paints in association with Mungart Boodja Art Centre in Katanning.
- Writers:
- Fisher, Laura
- Date written:
- 2009
- Last updated:
- 2011
