Senior and respected figure both in Warlpiri ceremonial life and in the art movement at Yuendumu. He was born at Ngarilyikirlangu, north of the present day site of Yuendumu, in about 1910. His main totems are Emu and Bandicoot, and he usually paints Ngapa (Water), Yankirri (Emu) and Wardilyka (Bush Turkey) Dreamings, though he has also painted the Pamapardu (Flying Ant) Dreaming which passes close to Yuendumu travelling west. Darby’s family has responsibility for the Dreaming as it crosses Warlpiri country. Darby has been an active member of the painting group at Yuendumu since the early years as one of the group of senior men of the Yuendumu community who painted the 27 doors of the Yuendumu School with their Dreamings. Since the Yuendumu painting company’s first Araluen Centre exhibition in October 1985, his works have been included in numerous exhibitions of Warlukurlangu Artists in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin, Alice Springs and the Gold Coast. Like most artists of the Western Desert – or anywhere else, Darby Ross has progressively refined his approach to and execution of his subject matter, yet his paintings have retained their distinctive early style of loose exuberant paintwork and complex, richly textured surfaces, sometimes strongly reminiscent of cave paintings from the Western Desert area. Darby’s work has been included in the Dreamings:Art of Aboriginal Australia exhibition which toured North America in 1988-9, the Mythscapes exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1989 and many other important national and international exhibitions since then.
- Writers:
- Johnson, Vivien
- Date written:
- 1994
- Last updated:
- 2011
