Wakartu Cory Surprise was born in the Great Sandy Desert in 1929. Her early life was spent travelling around with her husband, living and working on different stations after her parents both died when she was a baby living in the desert. She came to Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia in the 1950s but only began painting at Karrayili Adult Education Centre in the early 1980s when the art movement in the area was bourgeoning. When Mangkaja Arts was established in 1984, Cory Surprise was one of the first twenty painters of the inaugural art centre.

‘When I paint, I think about my country and where I have been travelling across that country. I paint from here (points to head – thinking about country) and here (points to breasts, collarbone and shoulder blades – which is a reference to body painting). When I paint, I am thinking about Law from a long time ago. No one taught me to paint. I put down my own ideas.’

A confident, natural and usually solo painter, Cory Surprise welcomed a change in the studio in 2008 when Ildiko Kovacs, the Sydney-based abstract artist, came to Mangkaja Arts to participate in a three-week residency. Kovacs and Surprise, in particular, experienced a synergy in their practices and the two artists intuitively worked side by side, enjoying the companionship and their shared love of painting. Jili – Sandhills 2009 is one of the resulting works from this time and was exhibited alongside inspired works from Kovacs at Raft Artspace in 2009. The group of paintings was a celebration of this extraordinary residency, with a new vibrancy in the colours of Surprise’s work and a subtle yet significant shift in Kovacs’ paintings. A moment of beauty in cross-cultural exchange and creative dialogue, where the artists were reciprocally peer and teacher.

Vanessa Merlino

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