JIMMY BAKER
1915-2010, AustraliaJimmy Baker (c. 1915–2010) was born along the Kalaya Tjukurpa—the Emu Dreaming track—at a rockhole called Malumpa, near present-day Kanpi. Before becoming a painter, he worked as a shearer at Ernabella Mission and later helped re-establish the homeland community at Kanpi. A senior law man and ngangkari (traditional healer), Baker held responsibility for major Tjukurpaincluding Kalaya (Emu) and Piltati (Sacred Rockhole).
Baker began painting in 2004, late in a long life grounded in this Country and its knowledge. Kalaya, 2009, returns to the Tjukurpa associated with his birthplace, depicting camping places connected by the paths travelled by emus and a rockhole where the birds come to drink.
Baker was represented by three works inCulture Warriors, theNational Gallery of Australia’s inaugural National Indigenous Art Triennial in 2007.
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