Lin Onus, a Yorta Yorta artist of Aboriginal and Scottish descent, represents a singular voice in Australia’s cultural life. Esteemed for his wit, talent and panache, Onus’s work is a negotiation of cultural identity, using both Aboriginal and Western techniques to unsettle easy categorisation.

‘In Memory of Our Ancestors Who Were Shot and Burnt Here’ is a unique hand-painted screenprint, the fruit of a collaboration between Onus and master printmaker Shaike Snir. The two met at Port Jackson Press Australia in 1989 and over the subsequent years built an intimate rapport, spending their lunch breaks producing experimental works like this.

To understand the significance of this work, we must look to a dark event in Australian history: the Mistake Creek Massacre. In 1915, after wrongly accusing an Aboriginal person of stealing a cow, it is believed that two White men attacked a camp of Gija people in Alice Springs, killing and burning the bodies of between eight and 32 people. After all blood was shed, the cow turned up. At the massacres site stands a plaque inscribed with ‘In Memory of Our Ancestors Who Were Shot and Burnt Here’, echoed by Onus here.

While Onus was known for building his screenprints from a black ground, symbolic of his cultural identity, ‘In Memory…’ casts pebbles across empty space. Against the scorched earth, a motif repeated throughout his work, he paints Mistake Creeks plaque of remembrance. It is an achingly poignant configuration, an assertion of grief, violence and a refusal to scrub the landscape clean.

This work of art is not just powerful, it is culturally significant – a vestige of collaboration, experimentation and Onus’s artistic vision. For collectors of important Australian, Aboriginal and contemporary art, ‘In Memory…’ is a unique, museum-quality opportunity. It has an unbroken chain of provenance and is embossed with the Lin Onus Estate Stamp.

Lin ONUS (1948 - 1996)
'In Memory of Our Ancestors Who Were Shot and Burnt Here' 1996
Mixed media
Image Size: 50 x 75 cm
Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm
Signed: Embossed with 'Lin Onus Estate' stamp, lower right corner
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Unique experimental print produced by Lin Onus, with hand painted text layered over a screenprint. Excellent provenance, direct from the master printmaker Shaike Snir at Port Jackson Press Australia.

Similar unique print in the collection of the NGA, In memory of our ancestors who were shot and burn., Accession Number: 2019.758

Condition is Very Good: Paint surface is in excellent condition. Small tear to paper on right hand side, and very slight marks in left margin.

(c) Lin Onus / Copyright Agency