Ian Rictor

In 1986 Ian Rictor, together with his small family group, came into a remote settlement in the Great Victoria Desert. This was his first contact with the settled world of the Twentieth Century. He was twenty-four. Up until that time he had been living the traditional nomadic life of his ancestors, moving from water-hole to water-hole across the vast, seemingly inhospitable, tracts of the Spinifex country, and observing the ancient ceremonial practices of his people. It was an extraordinary event: the last known instance of Aboriginal people emerging from the outback.

In 1997, at its inception, Rictor joined the Spinifex Arts Project, adopting the medium of acrylic paint on canvas with quiet assurance. His chosen motif is the country around his birthplace of Artulin/Tuwan, in the heart of Spinifex Country – and the Tjulpu Tjuta ‘Dreaming’ that manifests it. He lives in Tjuntjuntjara Community in the Great Victoria Desert with his wife, the artist, Kathleen (Kanta) Donnegan.

Rictor’s work has been show around the world. It is held by many public museums and galleries, including: the British Museum, London; the Seattle Art Museum; the Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Museum Funf Kontinente, Munich; Sammlung Alison und Peter W. Klein, Nussdorf.