Across The Desert: Aboriginal Batik From Central Australia
Indigenous Art Art History Non-Fiction Women Artists Textile Arts Australian Cultural History Batik Cultural Preservation
Across the Desert: Aboriginal Batik from Central Australia is a scarce first-edition, 168-page soft-cover that delivers gallery-level scholarship in a portable, like-new format. Curated by Judith Ryan, Senior Curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, this 2009 publication documents the explosive 1970s–1990s batik movement that sprang from the women of Ernabella, Kintore, Utopia and other desert communities. Every spread pairs lush colour plates of hand-waxed, silk-dyed cloth with first-hand stories from the artists, mapping how traditional body-painting, sand-drawing and Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) iconography were re-imagined on fabric. The result is a visually stunning record of a pivotal, female-led chapter in Australian art history.
What makes the book highly collectible is its status as the only dedicated monograph on Central-Australian batik, long out of print and never reissued. First editions in “like-new” condition rarely surface, making this copy an immediate shelf-upgrade for collectors of Indigenous art, textile history or Australian cultural studies. The authoritative text—complete with artist biographies, map of communities and annotated glossary—transforms the volume into a ready-reference tool for curators, students and fashion designers seeking authentic source material on wax-resist techniques and desert colour palettes.
Beyond investment value, Across the Desert offers buyers an accessible entry point to understanding land-connected storytelling. Readers discover how floral and fauna motifs merge with ancestral journeys, how collaborative printing sessions strengthened inter-generational bonds, and how the desert itself becomes both canvas and archive. Whether shelved beside fine-art catalogues, travel memoirs or craft manuals, this beautifully preserved paperback keeps the voices of these pioneering women artists alive for young-adult and adult audiences alike.
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