Untitled - Evan Lee

"Some people think Oh! Only dot painting really has meaning. Landscape is only pretty coloured rocks and trees. We only want dot paintings. But these hills have meaning and we have stories too, the landscape artists. We also talk about where the different Dreaming's come from, and where they meet up and so on. We have two ways of painting: sand painting and landscapes. For us they both have the same Dreaming story. The landscape painting we do, it shows the country. We don't just paint anything, that's not our way. We are inspired by the country and the Dreaming as we paint.'
- Jillian Namatjira

This oil painting by Henoch Raberaba depicts the Central Australian landscape, capturing the rocky ranges, open country and distinctive colours of the desert. Through layers of oil paint, Raberaba gives the landscape a richness and depth, conveying both the vastness of the country and the changing light across its surface.

Raberaba was part of the Hermannsburg School tradition, in which artists painted the landscapes of their own Country through a Western landscape format. While best known for its watercolours, works such as this demonstrate how oil paint allowed artists to explore greater depth, texture and intensity of colour while continuing to express their close relationship with Country.