Behind the Doors

An art history from Yuendumu

The Yuendumu Doors are among the freshest, most remarkable documents of Aboriginal art. Painted thirty years ago at a remote desert school by artists steeped in ritual knowledge, the Doors survived against the odds. After near-obliteration by desert winds, sun, and children's graffiti, the Doors have been conserved and their powerful designs restored. Behind the Doors tells the story of these remarkable visual chronicles of Warlpiri country and Dreaming.

Praise for Behind The Doors:
'A book without obvious parallel.' - Nicolas Rothwell, the Australian

'Jones's introduction is factual, but moving ... The images themselves are sublime.' - Jill, M/C Reviews

'An attractive package.' - J.V.S. Megaw, Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, No. 42

Philip Jones is an author and historian based at the South Australian Museum, where he undertakes research on Aboriginal art, history and material culture, and on anthropological, photographic and expeditionary history. He has undertaken fieldwork with Aboriginal people in the Simpson Desert region and, more recently, with Warlpiri people of Yuendumu. His landmark book, Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and encounters on Australian frontiers, won the 2008 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction. He has an abiding interest in unlocking the histories of objects and their collectors.

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