Here’s a breakdown of the key details from the provided text:
The Discovery:
* A painting by Claude Kelly, a child from the Carrolup Native Settlement, was recently discovered in a trunk at the Corrigin Ancient Society in Western Australia.
* The painting had been undisturbed for approximately 25 years.
* The person who originally had the painting has passed away, taking any knowledge about its history with them.
The Carrolup Artworks – A Larger Story:
* Hundreds of artworks created by children at the carrolup Native Settlement (a mission) have been scattered far from their origins.
* Florence Rutter: Received hundreds of artworks in 1949 to exhibit and sell in London.
* Herbert Mayer: Collected 127 pieces, which he later donated to Colgate University in New York. These were rediscovered in 2004.
* The Mayer collection was repatriated in 2013 and is now held at the John Curtin Gallery in Perth.
* Claude Kelly’s newly discovered artwork is also now with the John Curtin Gallery.
Significance of the Artworks:
* The artworks are incredibly vital, especially for the families of the artists, as they may provide tangible evidence of family connections.
* They offer a window into a difficult period of history and the experiences of the children who created them, a time that is now distant from our own.
* Patricia Ryder (senior Carrolup adviser at the gallery) emphasizes the importance of viewing the art through the lens of the children’s experiences at the time of creation, not through a modern perspective.
In essence, the text details the rediscovery of a single artwork within the context of a much larger, poignant story about the displacement of Indigenous art and its eventual return to its cultural home.
