Edward Blitner

Edward “Eddie” Blitner was in 1964 and comes from the Southern Arnhem land of Naijarlindji on the Roper River. This located approximately 270kms from Katherine in the Northern Territory.

Eddie started painting from a very early age, learning bark painting from his grandfather. As a result, Eddie is an extremely diverse artist, painting on canvas, bark and producing woodcarvings including spearheads and hunting boomerangs.

The Stories in Which Eddie depicts on these various mediums is that of “Mimi Spirits” and “Rainbow Serpent” Dreaming. Both the ancestral Mimi Spirits and the Rainbow Serpent are central to the creation of the land, as they formed the landscape and sacred site within it.

Eddie’s works have been featured throughout Australia and the calibre of his works has been reflected in the awards he has received. In 1998 he was a selected entrant in the paramount Telstra Art Prize and also featured in the Australia Aids Magazine. Since then, Eddie’s work won first prize in the Barunga Aboriginal cultural festival.

Eddie’s depiction of both the Mimi Spirits and the Rainbow serpent are very often painted in white, using fine white dots and lines to add detail to the figures. This is then perfectly contrasted with a single coloured background, usually red ochre, illustrating his Country.