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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Patrick Dodson

2004
Zhou Xiaoping

mixed media on canvas (frame: 188.0 cm x 137.0 cm, support: 185.5 cm x 134.0 cm)

Patrick Dodson (b. 1948), senator for Western Australia, is a Yawuru man who was born in Broome but spent most of his childhood in the Northern Territory. Orphaned in 1960, in 1961 he was sent (with his brother, Mick) to Monivae College in Victoria. In 1975 he became Australia’s first Aboriginal Catholic priest, but left the priesthood in the early 1980s. As director of the Central Land Council, he was integral to negotiations for the return of the Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park to traditional owners in 1985. In 1989, he was a commissioner of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and in 1991 he became the first chairperson of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. From 2010 to 2012, Dodson co-chaired the expert panel on the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. He was the inaugural director of the Indigenous Policy, Dialogue and Research Unit at the University of New South Wales and is the first Indigenous Australian to be appointed to the council of the Australian National University.

Zhou Xiaoping met Dodson in 2002 at the funeral for artist Jimmy Pike, whose widow helped arrange a portrait sitting. 'We spent half the day together and I did a number of sketches of him, painting with Chinese ink and brushes on large rice paper,' Zhou says. Back in Melbourne, he mounted the painting on canvas and later added a layer of acrylic and oil paint.

Gift of the Lingiari Foundation 2015
© Zhou Xiaoping/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Zhou Xiaoping (age 44 in 2004)

Patrick Dodson (age 56 in 2004)

Donated by

Lingiari Foundation Ltd (1 portrait)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency