Malcolm Ellis was a Noongar artist who painted in the tradition of the children artists who created paintings and drawings at the Carrolup Native Settlement (often known as 'Marribank’) near Katanning, Western Australia, in the 1940s and 1950s. A number of works created by Ellis in the 1960s and 1970s are in the collection of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia. Some of these were included in the exhibitions 'Nyungar Landscapes’ (1992) and 'Aboriginal artists of the south-west: past and present’ (2000) which took place at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery (University of Western Australia), in Perth. His works were also included in 'Koorah Coolingah (Children Long Ago)’ (a 2006 exhibition which was shown at both the Katanning Arts Centre and the Western Australian Museum during the Perth International Arts Festival), and the 2009 Brisbane Powerhouse exhibition 'The Legacy of Koorah Coolingah (The Legend of Children Long Ago)’.
In the ' Aboriginal artists of the south-west: past and present’ exhibition catalogue, Stanton and Hill write that Ellis’ paintings “remain a testimony to his acute powers of observation, and his delight at the coming of each new day. His works often resemble images of some sort of 'Garden of Eden’, resplendent in energetic colours of sunrises and sunsets. These are celebrations of the memory of his own country, the south-west.” (2000, pg 13).
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- Writers:
- Fisher, Laura
- Date written:
- 2009
- Last updated:
- 2011
