Biddee Baadjo’s paintings record the main features of the Great Sandy Desert: its long rows of parallel sandhills that flow out of the centre of the continent. Clearly visible from the air, these bands of sandhills affect wind and rain patterns and have developed localised conditions that form various biological pockets in the valleys between them. While all are dry and arid through most of the year, some remain bare while others have abundant vegetation.
Biddee Baadjo’s paintings capture this terrain and show the critical importance of knowledge of its water sources. The mapmaking of semi-nomadic people is at the heart of this painting, as is a deep reverence for this traditional country that was the ancestral home to countless generations of the artist’s family clan.
