Kaalpa (Well 23) Catalogue - Corban Clause Williams

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

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