Ningali Lawford-Wolf (1967–2019), Wangkatjungka actor and dancer, began her career as a dancer at the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, later performing with the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Her award-winning 1994 one-woman show Ningali toured internationally in 1995. Lawford-Wolf performed in stage productions for Belvoir Street Theatre, the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company. Her film career included starring roles in Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Bran Nue Dae (2009) and Last Cab to Darwin (2015), for which she was nominated for the AACTA Award. She also appeared in ABC television's Mystery Road (2018). Off screen Lawford-Wolf was involved in community work in Fitzroy Crossing, advocating on issues relating to education and employment for traditional owners and becoming a director of the Indigenous-owned Kimberley Agricultural and Pastoral Company. In 2019, Lawford-Wolf tragically died while on tour with the Sydney Theatre Company's acclaimed adaptation of Kate Grenville's The Secret River, a production she helped to create. A cultural consultant and artistic collaborator with Bangarra Dance Theatre, Lawford-Wolf's legacy was honoured in their 2021 production SandSong.
This work is from a series by Stuart Spence in which his sitters were asked to interpret the theme of water. Faced with a selection of props for the shoot, Spence recalls that Lawford-Wolf 'instantly gravitated to the fish, draping it delicately around her neck. She somehow made it look like it belonged there'.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016
© Stuart Spence
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