Austalian Aboriginal Artists Jack Britten and Alan Griffiths (by Alex)

Jack Britten was born at Tickelara in the East Kimberley. Jack Britten is a senior Gija lawman. As a boy he was taken to work as a stockman and later as a road worker. In 1982 Jack moved back permanently to Frog Hollow, in the East Kimberley, where he had worked to establish the Worranginy Out-Station.

Jack Britten's painting and screenprints focus on his country in the East Kimberley, its origins, ceremonies and ancestral figures; his vision merging the spiritual and physical landscape. His grandparents taught him to paint using traditional materials, methods and themes. Distinctive features of his painting are the use of bush-gum or sap as the binder for ochres and the use of saw-toothed incising. Britten depicts his Dreamings with a lateral landscape perspective and gentle clusters of dome shaped ranges which represent the Bungle Bungles. He is known for his exploration of the landscape with rough textures and bold designs. The distinctive dotting which outlines and is embodied in the landscape forms, describes the country and evokes the presence of ancestors and ceremonies. Jack often incorporates body markings into his work emphasising his ritual seniority. His work is a spiritual and lyrical reflection on the landscape. Since 1987 Jack Britten has exhibited all over Australia including in the ‘Crossroads - Towards a New Reality’, ‘Aboriginal Art from Australia’ in Kyoto and Tokyo in 1992; and ‘Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley’ at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1993.

In 1992 he won the Museums and Art Galleries Award and the National Aboriginal Art Award. His work is held in several private and corporate collections. Jack Britten died in 2002.
Purnululu - Bungle Bungles: The artist spent most of his youth as a stockman working the country around the Bungle Bungle Ranges...


Alan Griffiths was born at Victoria River Station in the Northern Territory in 1933. In 1957 he moved to Katherine where he worked as the head stockman at Beswick Station. This lead to further work on Maninbelli Station, Elizabeth Downs, Delamere and Willaroo.

Alan then worked as a plumber and a cook until 1965 after which he moved to Kununurra to begin a new job as a tractor operator on a cotton farm at Ivanhoe Station.

Allan began painting in 1981 after retiring from a long life of stock and station work. He depicts images of his country - mapping the landscapes significant features and dreamtime stories. His work also captures his days working as a stockman and life on the station.

He often works in collaboration with his wife Peggy Griffiths, painting images of Corroborree for which they are key performers and teachers in their community.

Apart from his life as an artist, Alan is a respected law and culture man for both his country near Timber Creek and for Mirrawoong culture in Kununurra.


collections

Parliament Collection Canberra ACT

University of Woollongong NSW

Edith Cowan University Collection, Perth WA

Cable Beach Resort, Broome WA(Commission)

Royal Perth Hospital Collection Perth WA

Broadmeadows Health Service Collection, Melbourne VIC

Artbank Australia

Private Collections Australia & International

Bachelor Institute NT
Camel Trek [new]: Guljagi or Sundown Hill is a significant landmark in the artist's traditional country at Victoria Ri...