Churchill Cann (Yoonany) (*ca. 1947)
Churchill Cann (Yoonany) was born in ca.1947 at what is now called Texas Downs station, northeast of Warmun township in the East Kimberley area. He grew up on the station and spent most of his life working as a stockman. He belongs to the Gija and Miriwoong language groups and has deep knowledge of the land and its oral histories. He is a follower, like many people in Warmun, of both his people's religious beliefs and also Christianity.
He is an important elder in the community, with rich knowledge of Indigenous laws, and has important parts in ceremonial dances as well as being one of the last traditional healers amongst the Gija.
Churchill Cann (Yoonany) is the head of a wide-spread family, many of whom are artists and who paint exclusively in ochre and other natural pigments on canvas: e.g. his sisters Nancy Nodea and Katie Cox as well as his daughter Charlene Carrington.
Group Exhibitions (selected)
| 2012 | Geteilte Erde. Malerei australischer Aborigines und Keramik von Lotte Reimers – Shared Ground. Indigenous Australian painting and the ceramic art of Lotte Reimers, Theodor-Zink-Museum, Kaiserslautern, Germany |
| 2011 |
Gemaltes Land, Kunstverein “Talstrasse”, Halle, Germany |
| 2010 | Churchill Cann and Beerbee Mungnari, Seva Frangos Art, Perth, Australia |
| 2009 | Warnarran Gelengen: Old Times New Times, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia |
| 2009 | The Youngest One, Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Australia |
| 2008 | East of East Kimberley: Warmun in Asia, Red Dot Gallery, Singapore |
| 2007 | Greetings from Turkey Creek, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, Australia |
| 2007 | Warda-Wurrarem (All kinds of Stars), Raft Artspace, Darwin, Australia |
| 2006 | Gentlemen of Warmun, Seva Frangos Art, Sydney, Australia |
| 2005 | Waterhole Country, Short Street Gallery, Broome, Australia |
| 2004 | Die inneren und die äußeren Dinge. Stadtgalerie Bamberg Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany (in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 2003 | Big Country. Works from the Flinders University Art Museum Collection, Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide, Australia |
| 2003 | Ngarrgoorroon, Yiyili and Yarrunga - Four Artists from Warmun, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia |
| 2002-2003 | Garmerrun: All Our Country, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, Australia |
| 2002 | Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2002 | Die Kraft und das Licht. Kunst aus Australien, Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg, Germany (in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 2001 | Ochres, Short Street Gallery, Broome, Australia |
| 2001 | Das Verborgene im Sichtbaren (The Unseen in Scene), Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany (in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 2000 | Kunst der Aborigines, Leverkusen, Germany (in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 2000 | Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia |
| 2000 | The Collection. Aboriginal Fine Art & Weavings, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide, Australia |
| 1999 | Short Street Gallery, Broome, Australia |
| 1999 | Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia |
| 1994 | The 2nd National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australia |
Collections
Artbank, Sydney, Australia
Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
Harvey Wagner-Sammlung, USA
Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, USA
Kerry Stokes-Sammlung, Perth, Australia
Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
University of Wollongong, Australia
Literature
Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer, Kulturabteilung Bayer, Leverkusen, and Bayer Australia, Sydney (eds.): Das Verborgene im Sichtbaren. The Unseen in Scene, Speyer 2000, exh. cat., ISBN 3980707202
Flinders University City Gallery (ed.): Big Country. Works from the Flinders University Art Museum collection, Adelaide 2003, exh. cat., ISBN 072581103X
Isaacs, Jennifer: Spirit Country. Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, und Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1999, exh. cat. ISBN 1864980494
Kleinert, S. and Neale, M. (eds.): The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne 2000, ISBN 0195506599
Meeuwsen, Franca: Aboriginal Kunst, de verhalen vertellen, Zwolle 2000, ISBN 9040095078
