Biography

Gurindji / Waanyi, b. 1988 Sarrita King is a Gurindji / Waanyi artist born in Adelaide in 1988 and raised largely in Darwin. She is the daughter of the late William King Jungala and the younger sister of artist Tarisse King. Her practice draws on stories, landscape and memory connected to her father’s Gurindji heritage, the Northern Territory, and the country around Katherine, where her father’s family is from. Dreaming & Country: Lightning / Earth Cycles / Ancestors Sarrita’s work is commonly associated with Lightning, Earth Cycles, Ancestors, Ngurra and related stories of land, weather, fire, water and seasonal change. Her early paintings were particularly shaped by the storms, rain and lightning of the Top End, which she observed growing up in Darwin and travelling through the Northern Territory. Style and Technique Sarrita’s paintings are built through fine layering, repeated linear movement and controlled fields of mark-making. In her Lightning and Earth Cycles works, the surface often carries a strong directional force: lines split, branch, converge and move across the canvas with the rhythm of weather systems, rainfall, watercourses or charged air. In monochrome works, the restraint of the palette brings the structure forward. Fine white and grey marks can create a mineral surface, like rain over rock, ash, lightning traces or eroded ground seen from above. Sarrita’s Palette Sarrita works across both high-colour and restrained palettes. Her works often use black, white, silver, ochre, red, blue, gold and earth tones. In her monochrome works, tonal contrast carries the composition, with pale marks layered over dark grounds to create depth and movement. For the collector Sarrita King has an active contemporary practice with a strong Australian and international collector base. Her work is held in private collections in Australia and overseas, and she has developed a recognised visual language around Lightning, Earth Cycles, Ancestors and Ngurra. She has also worked collaboratively with her sister Tarisse King through the King Sisters Collaborative.