Doreen Chapman
Born:
1971 in Jigalong, Western Australia
Lives in:
South Hedland & Warralong, Western Australia Manyjilyjarra people
Doreen Chapman was born in Jigalong and has spent her life moving between Western Desert communities in the Pilbara, Western Australia. She is a Manyjilyjarra artist and has spent the majority of her adult life in Warralong, a community 120km south-east of Port Hedland. Chapman started painting with her mother, Maywokka May Chapman, and she first exhibited with Martumili artists in 2010. In recent years she has spent more time in Port Hedland and began painting at the Spinifex Hill Studios. As a deaf woman, painting is a crucial medium of communication and storytelling for Chapman.
Doreen Chapman, Untitled, 2023. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principle arts investment and advisory body. Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland © Doreen Chapman and Spinifex Hill Studio. Installation view, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, UNSW Galleries. Photograph: Document Photography.
Doreen Chapman, Untitled, 2023. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principle arts investment and advisory body. Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland © Doreen Chapman and Spinifex Hill Studio. Installation view, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, UNSW Galleries. Photograph: Document Photography
Doreen Chapman, Untitled, 2023. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principle arts investment and advisory body. Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland © Doreen Chapman and Spinifex Hill Studio. Installation view, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, Museum of Contemporary Art. Photograph: Hamish McIntosh.
Doreen Chapman, Untitled, 2023. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principle arts investment and advisory body. Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland © Doreen Chapman and Spinifex Hill Studio. Installation view, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, Chau Chak Wing Museum. Photograph: David James.
Doreen Chapman, Untitled, 2023. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principle arts investment and advisory body. Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland © Doreen Chapman and Spinifex Hill Studio. Installation view, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, UNSW Galleries. Photograph: Jacquie Manning.
Doreen Chapman, Untitled, 2023. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principle arts investment and advisory body. Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland © Doreen Chapman and Spinifex Hill Studio. Installation view, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, Artspace. Photograph: Document Photography.
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Untitled 2023
Untitled 2023
Untitled 2023
acrylic on canvas
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body
Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland
White Bay Power Station
Untitled 2023
Untitled 2023
acrylic on canvas
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body
Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Untitled 2023
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body
Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland
Chau Chak Wing Museum
Untitled 2023
acrylic on canvas
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body
Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland
UNSW Galleries
Untitled 2023
acrylic on canvas
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body
Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland
Untitled (camel) 2020
acrylic on canvas
Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland
Artspace
Untitled 2023
acrylic on canvas
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body
Courtesy the artist and Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland
On the edge of the Sandy Desert, in the Pilbara region, is the community of Jigalong. In 1907, Jigalong housed workmen building the rabbit-proof fence; in the 1930s cameleers bred their animals on its red soil; in 1947 it was transformed into a Christian Mission on behalf of the Apostolic Church, and in 1971, three years before the land would be returned to its rightful owners, Jigalong welcomed the birth of Doreen Chapman.
Born deaf and non-verbal, the Manyjilyjarra artist has painted alongside her mother, senior Martumili artist May Wokka Chapman, since she was a girl. In vibrant colours Chapman creates her work at pace, rendering scenes of native flora and fauna as well as images of contemporary Indigenous life, here an ATM. Continuing to travel between communities across the Pilbara, Chapman’s craft is crucial to her ability to communicate and share the stories which have shaped herself and her community.