Ben Ward
Ben Ward
BORN
1949, ARGYLE DOWNS STATION, WA
COUNTRY
BILBILJIM
COMMUNITY
NGUNULUM (COCKATOO SPRINGS), WA
LANGUAGE
MIRIWOONG
About
Ben Ward was born in 1949 on the banks of Behn Creek at Argyle Downs Station. His stepfather, Jeff Junarma, took him on as his own son and taught him about Country. Ben worked as a mechanic before mustering cattle at Carlton Hill Station in 1964, exploring the Country that would later become central to his artistic practice.
A powerful speaker and advocate, Ben was the critical supplicant in the landmark claim Ben Ward versus the State of Western Australia, which successfully granted native title to Miriwoong and Gajerrabeng peoples. He was instrumental in establishing several local Miriwoong organisations, including Waringarri Aboriginal Arts.
Following a serious car accident in 2011, Ben began regularly painting at Waringarri Arts. In 2015, he became the first Indigenous artist to win the prestigious John Fries Award for emerging artists in New South Wales.
WORK
Ben Ward’s painting practice focuses on his unique perspective of seeing and being with Country. His works employ striking triangular designs of juxtaposed coloured ochre, depicting the waterways, mountain ranges and sacred sites of his Country — and at times, issuing a pointed challenge to those who would treat sacred land as expendable.
In Ngamoowalem (Ivanhoe Ranges), the Ord River meanders across the canvas while four waterfalls mark the centre — Valentine Springs, Jaying (where his grandmothers were born), Middle Spring (Mayiba) and Black Rock Falls. The large hill Goomig rises in the background. To the top right, two circles are deliberately painted to appear as nuclear waste symbols, marking the sacred sites of Boorlgoomirri and Gigoomirri — where, during the filming of Australia, actors and crew climbed onto these hills. As Ben asks: ‘You wouldn’t walk all over a nuclear waste site?’
FIND
ART CENTRE
WARINGARRI ABORIGINAL ARTS, KUNUNURRA, WA
PORTRAIT OF BEN WARD BY TIMBEE
