The Stranger Artist: Life at the Edge of Kimberley Painting

(Paperback)

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Winner of the 2021 Prime Ministers Literary Award for Non-fiction.

Set amid the striking landscapes of the East Kimberley, The Stranger Artist is an evocative and enthralling account of a remarkable decade in Australias internationally acclaimed Aboriginal art movement.

At the end of the twentieth century, one-time gallerist Tony Oliver finds himself deeply immersed within a group of senior Gija artists, among them the soon-to-be-renowned painters Paddy Bedford and Freddie Timms. Their unlikely bonds lead to the formation of the groundbreaking Jirrawun Arts, which quickly becomes one of Australias most celebrated and controversial art collectives. As Oliver comes to share not only the artists many successes but their tragedies too, his own lifes trajectory will forever be altered.

Quentin SpraguesThe Stranger Artistis an extraordinary contribution to Australias cultural history a sensitive yet unflinching portrait of creative work, of a life between cultures, of both darkness and light.

Author Bio

Quentin Sprague is a Geelong-based writer who has worked variously as a curator, academic, art coordinator and artist. His essays and criticism have regularly appeared in publications includingThe Monthly, The Australian, Art & AustraliaandDiscipline, as well as artist monographs and exhibition catalogues.Between 2007 and 2009 he lived on the Tiwi Islands and in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, where he worked for Aboriginal arts organisations.