BY CORBAN CLAUSE WILLIAMS
OPENING
Friday, 17 May 2019 - 6-8pm
LOCATION
Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery 16 Edgar St, Port Hedland WA 6721
EXHIBITION RUNS UNTIL
Saturday, 22 June 2019
ARTIST’S STATEMENT Kaalpa (Well 23) Kaalpa is my two grandfathers’ ngurra (home). My two grandfathers, they were pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) in Kaalpa, where they walked around hunting bush tuckers. They were there hunting, getting meat. I went there for the first time last year [2018] on a Martumili trip to Wantlili Claypan. The KJ (Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa) rangers were going to visit Kaalpa and asked “we going Kaalpa, you wanna come?” The oldies said “go see your grandfather’s Country”they showed me that well (Well 23 on the Canning Stock Route). It’s got kapi (water) there, a well, jurnu (soak) and tuwa (sandhills). When we been in Kaalpa they [elders] said “this is your Country, this is your home. This one here is yours and your little sister’s [Tamisha Williams] home, this is your two’s grandfather’s Country”. I went hunting there, got a parnajalpa (sand goanna). We were looking for bilbys - we couldn’t find any. We got minyarra (bush onion) there too. When I went there, I was pukurlpa (happy). It made you open up your spirit, feels like home.
Corban Clause Williams. Photograph courtesy of Martumili artists.
BIOGRAPHY When I was little, I first came to Martumili, I saw people painting and Gabe (Gabrielle Sullivan, previous manager at Martumili Artists) got me a small canvas to try. One day when I was at Fortescue festival I saw all the oldies there and their paintings, I was looking around, looking around and seeing what I liked, this and that, this and that, and I was thinking- I want to be a painter when I grow up. At school in Newman and in Punmu I liked to paint. I painted a lot with my nana Jakayu [Biljabu] and little bit I got her style of painting, into my painting. First, when you have a brush in your hand it’s like I see it in my mind, the sandhills, waterholes. I picture it in my head and I am back there.
Corban Clause Williams is a young artist working with Martumili Artists (Newman, WA). Born and raised in Newman, Corban is inspired by time on spent on Country - collecting bush tucker, hunting, and storytelling around the waru (fire). Corban has a deep respect for his Martu family and Elders and has spent many years painting alongside senior artists in his community. In his most recent art-making, Corban showcases a practice informed by tradition, yet imbued with his own unique contemporary vision of Country. “I was born in Newman hospital. Mum, Dad, Nanna and Pop lived in Jigalong before, but they moved into town before I was born. I’m one of seven children. I grew up in Newman - this is my home. I like to travel but I worry about home. When I was younger I went to Newman Primary (Yellow) School and Newman Senior High School. My Nanna and Pop used to take us out hunting for bush tucker. I’d help them make a fire and tea. Me and Pop would go out to the swamp area between Newman and Kumarina. Nan, Pop, Mum and Dad would tell funny stories about our family and make me laugh.
- Corban Clause Williams, 2019 I work at Martumili, helping to sell the paintings and get the canvas ready. I come to Martumili to paint about my Country, where my grandfather walked around and collected food, and visited the same rockholes I do. I paint to keep my culture and stories and share with others.”
Kaalpa (Well 23)
Kaalpa (Well 23)
18-882 Acrylic on canvas 91 x 121 cm
18-1243 Acrylic on canvas 121 x 91 cm
$2400
$2400
Kaalpa (Well 23)
Kaalpa (Well 23)
18-999 Acrylic on canvas 121 x 91 cm
19-31 Acrylic on canvas 121 x 91 cm
$2400
$2400
Kaalpa (Well 23) 18-1240 Acrylic on canvas 46 x 76 cm $750
Kaalpa (Well 23)
Kaalpa (Well 23)
18-1241 Acrylic on canvas 46 x 76 cm
18-1242 Acrylic on canvas 46 x 76 cm
$750
$750
Untitled 19-113 Acrylic on canvas 121 x 91 cm $2400
Kaalpa (Well 23)
Kaalpa (Well 23)
18-1031 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 61 cm
18-1033 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 61 cm
$800
$800
Kaalpa (Well 23)
Kaalpa (Well 23)
18-1034 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 61 cm
19-381 Acrylic on linen
$800
91 x 91 cm $1800
Untitled 19-141 Acrylic on canvas 122 x 92 cm $2400
Untitled 19-143 Acrylic on canvas 107 x 152 cm $3500
Untitled 19-140 Acrylic on canvas 122 x 92 cm $2400
Untitled 19-54 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 91 cm $1200
Kaalpa (Well 23)
Kaalpa (Well 23)
19-394 Acrylic on linen 103 x 151 cm
19-365 Acrylic on linen 103 x 151 cm
$3500
$3500
Kaalpa (Well 23) 19-366 Acrylic on canvas 152 x 76 cm $2500
CV GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
AWARDS
2019 Midwest Art Prize, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery Geraldton, WA
2017 Hedland Art Award Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery Port Hedland, WA
2018 Hedland Art Award Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery Port Hedland, WA
2017 Art at the Heart Martumili Gallery Newman, WA
2018 Desert Mob Araluen Arts Centre Alice Springs, NT
2017 Desert Mob Araluen Arts Centre Alice Springs, NT
2018 Martuku Ninti (Martu Knowledge) Vivien Anderson Gallery Melbourne, VIC
2017 Community Life Martumili Gallery Newman, WA
2018 Pujiman
2016 Revealed
Martumili Artists and Spinifex Hill Artists
Emerging Aboriginal artists from Western Australia
Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery Port Hedland, WA
Fremantle Arts Centre Fremantle, WA
2019 Midwest Art Prize Rio Tinto Midwest Aboriginal Art Award 2018 Hedland Art Awards Best Work by an Artist Under 25
Tamish and Corban Clause Williams at Kaalpa, 2018. Photograph courtesy of Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa.
THANK YOU For sales enquiries, please contact us at Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery:
(08) 9173 1064 mail@courthousegallery.com.au 16 Edgar St, Port Hedland WA 6721
Presented by
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