A Tremendous Spirit

From Swoon Studio: Portrait of Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa, also known as Mrs Bennett, who helped shape the Aboriginal women’s painting movement. This shot is from 2011, when I was working inside the church in Braddock, using it as a studio for the summer because it was an interior space big enough to carve a piece on this scale. I had just been to Australia and met Mrs. Bennet, spent the day sketching her, watching her paint, listening to her stories and songs and enjoying the wildly mischievous grin she would give me. Such a tremendous spirit. She passed away a couple of years later, and I am still honored to have gotten to spend some time with her while she was alive.

Swoon Studio