The rainmakers have long gone

The rainmakers have long gone

JOY ENGELMAN

Selected and exhibited at the Niagara Falls History Museum in "Water for Life" 2018

Synthetic polymer on linen
90 x 154cm | Stretched
$17,500 or $1,750 x 10 months with Art Money - find out more
Shipping available - please email us for a quote hello@thepeisleystgallery.com.au

800 billion years ago, Central Australia held mountain ranges higher than the Himalayas but these have eroded own to the dry and barren landscape it is today. Filled with large floodplains and salt lakes that rarely fill, the area cannot support human life. 

In this painting, the headwaters of the floodplain flow out from the ancient Arkaroola hills and overtime water has shaped this land into a large curvaceous place. Occasional rain fills the few waterholes and dry creek beds. It seeps in to sandy areas where small shrubs and hardy eucalypts can grow. 

Only the indigenous people know the secrets of survival here. But we, the new comers, have not heard their wisdom. We are allowing it to be sacrificed in the name of modernity.

Indigenous rainmakers used to burn off in time to bring in the rain clouds thus keeping the land alive but now, "the rainmakers have long gone".