Out of the boxes and into the Desert was a selection of paintings by senior desert, predominately male, artists from 1970-80. It was the first time many of the works had been on display as they had been rolled up in boxes in the Berndt Museum's storage over the past three decades. Also included was a work by women artists as in the early period it was often easier for women to paint because their narratives were linked to bush foods and therefore easier for westerners to comprehend. Wow!!
‘Nikulinsky Naturally’ was "a survey of her love for the incredibly diverse, resilient and beautiful flora of WA over the past 40 years". Philippa has travelled the length and breadth of WA to record, draw and paint the flora and fauna some of which were depicted in this exhibition. Another "wow"! First to catch the eye, a long scroll depicting the genesis of a banksia flower, unfolding drawing by drawing to full bloom then down again to seed pod. Similarly, blackened, twisted bodies of xanthorea thorntii (cundalee grass trees) after a bushfire were hung below pre-scorched trees -each of these scrolls were centred between ceiling and floor and stretched from one corner of the gallery to the other.
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