Dolly Parton has never stepped foot on the dry red dirt of Indulkana in remote South Australia.<\/p>\n
In fact, the singer likely does not know the Aboriginal community, about 400 kilometres south of Alice Springs, even exists.<\/p>\n
But in the art of Kaylene Whisky, Parton is a frequent visitor and the painter’s muse.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dolly visits Indulkana (2020) by Kaylene Whiskey. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n
So too is Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Tuner and superheroes like Wonder Woman and Supergirl.<\/p>\n
With playfulness and humour, the acclaimed contemporary First Nations artist weaves together pop culture with traditional A\u1e49angu culture.<\/p>\n
Her art celebrates sisterhood and strong women.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Flying over Indulkana (2022) by Kaylene Whiskey. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n
A major survey of her work, called Super Kaylene Whiskey, opens this weekend at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in Canberra.<\/p>\n
“Kaylene Whiskey, there’s no one else like her in the universe,” exhibition curator April Phillips said.<\/p>\n
The collection includes more than 80 artworks from across a decade of practice, sourced from private and institutional collections around Australia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bree Pickering says Whiskey’s group portraits present each person as powerful equals on the canvas. (ABC News: Adam Shirley)<\/p>\n
NPG director Bree Pickering said Whiskey’s work inspired collective joy and connection.<\/p>\n
“Dolly Parton, Cher and Wonder Woman \u2026 are presented as powerful equals, among other strong women from her community of Indulkana, including Kaylene herself,” she said.<\/p>\n
“What is important and absolutely remarkable about the group portraits that Kaylene paints is there is no compositional hierarchy.<\/p>\n
“No one figure is more important than any other.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kaylene Whiskey was commissioned to create the paintings of Cathy Freeman for the exhibition. (ABC News: Adam Shirley)<\/p>\n
A specially commissioned three-panelled painting depicting Cathy Freeman at the 2000 Sydney Olympics will be on display for the first time.<\/p>\n
“Kaylene’s extraordinary work shows us Cathy in a new light,” Ms Pickering said.<\/p>\n
“Not weighed down by the expectations of a nation but powered by the energy, love and spirit of her sisters in Indulkana and beyond.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kaylene Whiskey says she hopes the exhibition makes people laugh and smile. (ABC News: Adam Shirley)<\/p>\n
Whiskey’s star is continuing to rise in the art world.<\/p>\n
She is a three-time Archibald finalist and the winner of the 2018 Sulman Prize.<\/p>\n
The exhibition will remain on display at the gallery until March 9 next year, and Whiskey hopes it makes people laugh and smile.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Seven Sistas Story (2021) by Kaylene Whiskey. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n
“It will be like a big party celebrating kungka ku\u1e49pu (strong women), friends, family, culture, and of course Dolly Parton,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Phillips said she could not wait to see what was next for Whiskey’s career.<\/p>\n
“It’s just the beginning,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton has never stepped foot on the dry red dirt of Indulkana in remote South Australia. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[132874,64,63,43478,45639,8649,134,164545,164544,22429,164546,4098,6336],"class_list":["post-284772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-aangu-pitjantjatjara-yankunytjatjara","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cathy-freeman","tag-cher","tag-dolly-parton","tag-entertainment","tag-iwantja","tag-kaylene-whiskey","tag-national-portrait-gallery","tag-super-kaylene-whiskey","tag-tina-turner","tag-wonder-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}