REPRESENT Aboriginal Figurative Practice in Western Australia | PART 2

PART 2

1

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Cover: Captain Hedland (still from animation), Layne Dhu-Dickie, animated film, 2023.

FORM acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Western Australia both past and present, whose enduring connection to this Country and ongoing contributions to our collective culture and communities we respect and honour. We appreciate and are deeply grateful for the privilege of working on these lands.

WARNING: We advise that this exhibition contains the names and artworks of deceased First Nations peoples.

Their families and representatives have provided permission for this, in recognition of their significance to Western Australian artistic expression.

2

ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA | PART 2

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

REPRESENT

“There’s more power in representing yourself, than being represented by others.”

Sharyn Egan, REPRESENT Cultural Consultant

3

Rodney Adams Sophia Alone Owen John Biljabu Yanyangkari Roma Butler Doreen Chapman Tanya Charles Layne Dhu-Dickie Arthur Graham Eades Sharyn Egan Wendy Hubert Brett Nannup Nyangulya Katie Nalgood Jean Norman Rocky Porter Ross Potter Allery Sandy John Prince Siddon Tyrown Waigana Wendy Warrie Mandy White Cyril Whyoulter Carol Williams & Tjanpi Desert Weavers 4

Part 1 (October-December 2023) focused on senior and deceased artists who helped establish Western Australia’s figurative legacy, while Part 2 shows the experimental and emerging practices moving the genre forward today.

For many people, abstract dot painting is synonymous with Australian Aboriginal art, yet First Nations creative expression is as diverse as the people who make it. In recent decades, representational art has enabled Australia’s Aboriginal people to express themselves and tell stories in a powerfully direct way.

In Western Australia, figurative/representational work has been practised by Aboriginal people for millennia, as evidenced by rock art and petroglyphs.

More recent figurative innovations include the Carrolup School of the State’s south; the highly innovative sculptural practice of the Tjanpi Desert Weavers; and representations on canvas of the spiritual Wandjina figures of the Kimberley.

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

FORM Gallery is delighted to welcome you to REPRESENT (Part 2), a survey of Western Australian figurative expression by Aboriginal artists presented across two exhibitions.

FORM Gallery is honoured to have collaborated with Whadjuk Noongar Elder Sharyn Egan as cultural consultant (and exhibiting artist) for this project.

5

Rodney Adams Yinjaa-Barni Art Born: 1975, Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia Lives: Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia

The artistic practice of Yindjibarndi artist Rodney Adams began relatively recently in 2021, but already he has established a following and won awards for his evocative landscapes of his ancestral Country in the Millstream Tablelands. Rodney paints from memory, and many of the places he depicts have now been permanently altered by cyclones or mining. His canvases are a mix of acrylic paint and Pilbara earth.

Rodney’s most recent exhibitions include a solo show Remembering Country (2024) at Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney, and group exhibitions Murujuga: Celebration of an Ancient Cultural Landscape (2023) at Holmes à Court Gallery, and Yinjaa Barni: Colours of the Pilbara (2023) at Chalk Horse.

Rodney Adams Texture on Canvas, 2022 Acrylic on canvas 152 x 75.5cm 6408-22 $4,870

6

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2) Rodney Adams Fortescue Running, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 91 x 60cm 6028a-21

Rodney Adams Roebourne, 2022 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 45.5cm 6375-22

$1,095

$1,090

7

Sophia Alone Spinifex Hill Studio Born: 1985, Port Hedland, Western Australia Lives: South Hedland, Western Australia Sophia Alone is a proud Ngarla woman whose family is from the De Grey area about 80 km north-east of Port Hedland. Sophia’s ancestors are Makanykarra. Sophia took up painting in 2020 because she wanted to express her family stories, and her portraits show family members and fellow artists and Studio Assistants at Spinifex Hill Studio.

Since beginning her art practice Sophia has exhibited in Revealed Exhibition: New and Emerging WA Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre, and her painting Respect Grandfather Kutri Makanykarra won the prestigious Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture at The Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2022. It shows her grandfather, a Ngarla Elder, standing at Losers Hole while they visited a gravesite at De Grey Station where his family is resting. In the same year, Sophia also won the Lester Prize’s Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize.

Sophia Alone, Dr Andrew Tandy, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 91.5 x 91.5cm 23-138 $2,760

8

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2) Sophia Alone Ruby, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 45.5 x 61cm 23-271

Sophia Alone Adam, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 71 x 61cm 23-511

$1,005

$1,580

9

Owen John Biljabu Martumili Artists Born: 1989, Parnpajinya (Newman), Western Australia Lives: Jigalong, Western Australia Manyjilyjarra portraitist Owen John (OJ) Biljabu is a direct descendent of several of Martumili Artist’s most eminent artists, including his grandmothers Jakayu Biljabu (dec.), Jugarda Dulcie Gibbs (dec.), Muni Rita Simpson (dec.), and Muntararr Rosie Williams (dec.).

While he often paints stories about Country, learned from his grandparents, OJ prefers to paint portraits and self-portraits. Traditionally, Martu artists are not known for portraiture, however OJ has chosen to use self-taught traditional oil painting techniques to depict his community, other Martu artists and important figures in his life. He is currently the only member of Martumili Artists to do this. OJ’s portrait of fellow artist Corban Clause Williams was a finalist in the national Doug Moran Portrait Prize 2022, and his work has also been displayed at Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists.

Ilyala Boss Biljabu Owen John, 2022 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 46cm 22-1694 $675

10

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Tanya Charles Martumili Artists Born: 1981, Pilbara region, Western Australia Lives: Pilbara Region, Western Australia Milangka artist Tanya Charles often paints Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, using distinct features or colours from the associated landscape to orient each narrative in space. Charles also uses her painting practice to share cultural knowledge, ensuring the continued safe passage of skills and practices which are as important in contemporary living as they have been many years hundreds of years.

Highly controlled, directional line work and tightly regulated patterning makes Charles’s works hum with activity. Upon closer inspection, Charles’s selections of vibrant – sometimes kaleidoscopic – colours can be observed in her local landscape, delightfully pulled from plants, earth and sky.

Tanya Charles, Bush Tucker, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 91 x 91cm 23-791 $1,735

11

Yanyangkari Roma Butler Tjanpi Desert Born: 1959, Wilu Rockhole, South Australia Lives: Warakurna, Western Australia Yanyangkari Roma Butler is an award-winning Tjanpi sculptural artist belonging to the Pitjantjatjara language and cultural group. An important senior law woman and an expert storyteller in various forms of art and media, Yanyangkari’s Tjanpi artworks are recognisable for their dynamism and character, quirky details, and inventive stitching. She is also one of the first Aṉangu camerawomen for Ngaanyatjarra Media.

Yanyangkari’s meticulously woven self-portrait, Ngayulu Munu Ngayuku Papa: Me and My Dogs was a finalist in the 2021 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. The life-sized sculpture celebrates the love, companionship and joy shared between Yanyangkari and her beloved papas. Yanyangkari’s works have been featured in many group exhibitions in Australia and overseas.

Yanyangkari Roma Butler Ngayulu Munu Ngayuku Papa (Me and My Dogs), 2021 Tjanpi (grass) and mixed media Dimensions variable 2540-18 $8,145 12

13

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Photograph by Sophia Constantine, c/o Spinifex Hill Studio

Doreen Chapman Martumili Artists / Spinifex Hill Studio Born: 1971, Jigalong, Western Australia Lives: Warralong / South Hedland, Western Australia Manyjilyjarra artist Doreen Chapman has spent her life moving between Western Desert communities, and now divides her time between South Hedland and Warralong, a community 120km to the southeast. She started painting with her mother, senior Martu artist Maywokka (Mayiwalku) Chapman, at Martumili Artists, and in recent years has been painting at Spinifex Hill Studio in South Hedland.

Doreen’s award-winning work is widely celebrated and collected for its unique, exuberant subject matter and

14

colour palette. She has been featured in many group and solo exhibitions in Australia and overseas, and her work is held in many collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria and The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Recent exhibitions include Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, a FORM exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia (2022), and a new body of commissioned work now showing at the 2024 Sydney Biennale, Ten Thousand Suns.

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2) Doreen Chapman Untitled [Self Portrait with Camel], 2020 Acrylic on canvas 76 x 122cm 20-692

Doreen Chapman Untitled, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 101 x 152cm 19-924

$3,175

$3,785

Doreen Chapman Untitled, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 45.5 x 183cm 20-810 $3,785

15

Layne Dhu-Dickie Spinifex Hill Artists Born: 2004, Port Hedland, Western Australia Lives: South Hedland, Western Australia

16

Banjiyma artist Layne Dhu-Dickie is the creator of a comic book series featuring the fictional superhero ‘Captain Hedland’. He is also a team member at Spinifex Hill Studio.

In 2017 Layne was the youngest artist ever to feature in Fremantle Arts Centre’s Revealed Exhibition: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists, and in 2019 he was the youngest to be showcased at the Art Gallery of South Australia’s TARNANTHI. He won ‘Best Work by an Artist Under 25’ at the 2017 Hedland Art Awards and his work has been acquired

by the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Janet Holmes à Court Collection.

Layne’s Captain Hedland comic books featured in Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, a FORM exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2022.

An animated version of Captain Hedland premiered in Blak Power: 50 Years of First Nations Superheros in Australian Art at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art Darwin in 2023.

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2) Captain Hedland (details), Layne Dhu-Dickie, animated film, 2023.

Not for sale.

17

Sharyn Egan Independent artist Born: 1957, Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia Lives: Hamilton Hill, Western Australia Sharyn Egan is a respected painter, weaver, sculptor and curator, who has co-developed the REPRESENT exhibitions with FORM. As a member of the Stolen Generation who grew up in the New Norcia Mission School, much of Sharyn’s artwork is a commentary on her life as a Whadjuk Nyoongar woman and the associated trauma, emotions and deep sense of loss and displacement experienced by Aboriginal people.

Sharyn works in numerous media, including painting, sculpture, woven forms and site-specific installations, often choosing materials such as ochres, resins and grasses that connect to land, especially her home near the lake system in the southern suburbs of Perth. Her woven works include traditionally styled contemporary forms and baskets, as well as larger scale sculptural forms. In recent years Sharyn has been awarded several prestigious public art commissions in Perth, including at Optus Stadium and Elizabeth Quay, and at prominent sites elsewhere in Australia. Her works are held in the collections of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology and the National Museum of Australia.

Sharyn Egan Elaino, 2022 Meadow hay and raffia 100 x 52 x 12cm SE1 $2,200

18

Juluwarlu Art Group Born: 1954, Red Hill Station, Western Australia Lives: Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia Wendy Hubert is a respected Yindjibarndi Elder, cultural Custodian, artist and linguist. Born on Guruma Country, Wendy lived at Red Hill Station, Minderoo Station and Onslow before settling in Roebourne, and meeting her husband through her work in community health. Wendy began painting with Juluwarlu Art Group in 2019 and is noted for her landscape paintings depicting scenes from her childhood and important places on Yindjibarndi and Guruma Country.

Wendy’s work has appeared in multiple Cossack Art Awards, in Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists; Ngardamarri: Artists of Roebourne (2021); and Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, a FORM exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia (2022). In 2023 she was a shortlisted finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, and in 2024 she will hold her first interstate solo exhibition at Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin.

Wendy Hubert Ngurra (Yindjibarndi Country), 2024 Acrylic on canvas 80 x 100cm 24-29 $2,300

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Wendy Hubert

Wendy Hubert Always anthills in ngurra (Yindjibarndi Country), 2023 Acrylic on canvas 83 x 97cm 23-190 $2,300 19

Brett Nannup Independent artist Born: 1975, Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia Lives: Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia Brett Nannup is a printmaker who was trained in the artform by his mother, iconic Western Australian printmaker Laurel Nannup. Brett’s main conceptual focus is to investigate and interrogate ideas of what it means to be a man in today’s society, as well as exploring his own identity and place in the duality of the Noongar and Western worlds.

Brett has exhibited across Western Australia, and in Canada and the United States. His works are held in collections including the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, Harvard Art Museum, the Janet Holmes à Court Collection, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Australia, New York Public Library, and the Western Australian Museum.

Brett Nannup Djitty Djitty, 2023 Intaglio print, line etching, ink on paper 39.5 x 54cm BN3 $1,000 (framed)

20

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2) Brett Nannup Wagyl, 2023 Intaglio prints / etching prints / Ink on Paper 54 x 66cm BN1

Brett Nannup Silence, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 54 x 65.5cm BN2

$1,000 (framed)

$1,000 (framed)

21

Nyangulya Katie Nalgood Spinifex Hill Studio Born: 1946, Liveringa Station, Western Australia Lives: South Hedland, Western Australia Nyangula Katie Nalgood is a Walmajarri artist, born in the Kimberley. She grew up on a remote station north of the Fitzroy River, and now lives with her family, many of whom are also artists, in South Hedland. Her husband was acclaimed Nyangumarta/Warnman/Manyjilyjarra artist Nyaparu (William) Gardiner (dec.).

One of the most popular artists currently working out of the Pilbara region, Nyangulya is nationally acclaimed for her paintings of birds, with her work appearing in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and overseas. She was a shortlisted finalist for the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2021 and featured as part of TARNANTHI at The Art Gallery of South Australia in 2023. Other recent exhibitions include Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, a FORM exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia (2022); Jalmarra-Jarti: all the birds have wings (2023) and No Clock Only Birds (2024), both at Paul Johnstone Gallery in Darwin.

Nyangulya Katie Nalgood Flying Owl, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 61cm 23-671 $1,950

22

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Nyangulya Katie Nalgood Yellow, Blue and Black Bird, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 56 x 91.5cm 23-731 $3,510

Nyangulya Katie Nalgood Flying Eagle, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 76 x 122cm 23-765 $7,220 23

Jean Norman Juluwarlu Art Group Born: Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia Lives: Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia Painting from life, Yindjibarndi Elder Jean Norman’s paintings can be viewed as a record of the native flora that thrives on her Ngurra (Country). Norman’s paintings often feature flowers because of her appreciation for their beauty, “After the rain I love to go out on Ngurra (Country) and see all the beautiful native flowers blooming across the land”, but also because she can no longer observe animals to paint, “I don’t see as many animals anymore that’s why they are not in my paintings...when we were little kids we would see plenty.”

Norman’s landscapes are characterised by the distinct treatment of each plant species represented. Every shrub, bush, tree or flower is celebrated and distinguished with a unique application of brushstrokes, mark-making techniques, and colours. Norman’s work featured in Raw Colour (2021) at Holmes à Court Gallery @ No. 10 and it was selected to promote the 2023 Jury Art Prize.

Jean Norman Ngurra Country, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 62.5 x 54cm 23-79 $800 24

Independent artist Born: Meanjin (Brisbane), Queensland Lives: Walyup (Fremantle), Western Australia Ross Potter is a Kamilaroi man and professional artist living and working on Whadjuk Noongar boodjar. Ross uses pencil and paper to produce highly detailed, often large-scale representations of his subjects. Through magnifying microscopic features, Ross brings the abstractions of reality to our attention, while telling compelling stories of everyday life. One of his most well-known works is a life-sized drawing of Perth Zoo’s beloved elephant Tricia (1957-2022), which he created at Fremantle Arts Centre during the exhibition Animaze: Amazing Animals for Kids in 2018.

Ross’ work has also featured in numerous exhibitions and has been shown in the Fremantle Biennale and at Boola Bardip Western Australian Museum. Ross has undertaken artist residencies across Western Australia, including at Cossack and Margaret River, and will soon embark on his first international residency in Iceland.

Ross Potter Beneath the Leaves of Fallen Trees, 2023 Graphite on paper 70 x 70cm RP2

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Ross Potter

$1,950 (framed)

Ross Potter Night and Day, 2023 Pencil on paper 20 x 20cm (x2) RP1 $1,650 (mounted on perspex)

25

Tyrown Waigana Independent artist Born: 1996, Walyup (Fremantle), Western Australia Lives: Walyup (Fremantle), Western Australia Tyrown Waigana is a Wardandi Noongar and Ait Koedal man, giving him connections to Indigenous peoples from southwest Western Australia and Saibai Island in the Torres Strait. As a multidisciplinary artist and designer, Tyrown’s practice includes painting, illustration, sculpture, animation and graphic design, and he runs his own design business, Crawlin Crocodile, which focuses on bridging the gap between contemporary/traditional Indigenous art on digital platforms.

In 2020, Tyrown won the National NAIDOC poster competition with his design depicting the story of the Rainbow Serpent coming out of the Dreamtime to create the land. His work has been displayed at Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Out of Bounds at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the Australian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Tyrown Waigana Pretty Pale Privilege To Ponder The Poor, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 80 x 85cm TW1 $635

26

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2) Tyrown Waigana Beyond Blue Bug And Black Eye, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 80 x 85cm TW2 $635

27

Mandy White Independent artist Born: 1978, Guildford, Western Australia Lives: High Wycombe, Western Australia Amanda (Mandy) White is an artist of Yamatji heritage, whose work explores her fascination with the spirit beings that exist in the Noongar and Yamatji landscape. Stories about these entities are strongly linked to her mother (deceased), her family and culture. Animals, including Mandy’s whimsical interpretations of her beloved pets, also feature prominently in her art. She began creating art at DADAA (Disability and Disadvantage in the Arts Australia) in 2010.

Mandy’s work has appeared in many exhibitions and art prizes including Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists, Sculpture by the Sea, and the City of Joondalup Invitation Art Prize. She was awarded an As We Are Artist Mentorship at Bathers Beach Art Studios, Fremantle, and has led workshops for the People with Disability WA Conference and Community Arts Network.

Mandy White Spirit Mother, 2020 Acrylic, charcoal on canvas 61 x 122cm MW1 $1,410

28

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2) Mandy White Gina with Seahorses, 2021 Acrylic, charcoal on canvas 61 x 91cm MW2 $970

Mandy White Creatures and Critters, 2021 Acrylic and posca pen on canvas 91 x 122cm MW3 $1,760

29

Carol Williams Martumili Artists Born: 1972, the Pilbara, Western Australia Lives: Parnngurr, Western Australia

Putijarra artist Carol Williams grew up in Jigalong and Wiluna before moving to Parnngurr Community when she was a teenager. Her work often features the birds and animals of her Country. Carol went to school at Karalundi (Carolundi) mission in Meekatharra, where her mother Noreena, also an artist, was schooled. Carol’s grandmother Daisy Kadibil was one of the three young sisters taken from their family to Moore River Settlement, 1600km away from home, in 1931. The story of the girls’ arduous escape and long walk home is immortalised in the book Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington (Nugi Garimarra, 1996) and the 2002 film adaptation, The Rabbit Proof Fence.

Carol’s work was exhibited in 2023 in Le Chant Aborigène des Sept Soeurs at the International Development for Australian Indigenous Art’s (IDAIA) Paris gallery.

Carol Williams Rabbit proof fence, my two nannas made it home, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 91cm 23-40 $940 30

Tjanpi Desert Weavers Ngayuku Papa: Tiny (detail), 2018.

Image by Jonathan Daw. ©NPY Women’s Council

Tjanpi (‘grass’ in Pitjantjatjara language) is a social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council, which works with women living across Australia’s remote Central and Western deserts.

Tjanpi artists use native grasses to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, weaving baskets and sculptures that display endless creativity and inventiveness. Tjanpi represents over 400 artists from 26 remote communities spread across the NPY Lands, which span the border region of Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia.

In recent years many Tjanpi artists have extended their practices to share stories of community life through film. Blending stop-motion animation with footage of the storytellers narrating to camera, these films were created in collaboration with filmmaker Jonathan Daw and feature Tjanpi’s distinctive woven sculptures and stories of bush life spoken in the Ngaanyatjarra language.

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Tjanpi Desert Weavers

Ngayuku Papa: Tiny ( My Dog – Tiny) is a tale of community life and a beautiful friendship between a Ngaanyatjarra woman and her beloved dog, as told by lead artist Cynthia Burke, while in Ngayuku Papa: Bluey & Big Boy (My Dog: Bluey & Big Boy) Maureen Butler-Baker tells the story of her two dogs Big Boy and Bluey, and how they help her son hunt for perentie, a much sought after traditional food.

Tjanpi Desert Weavers Ngayuku Papa: Bluey & Big Boy (detail), 2018.

Image by Jonathan Daw. ©NPY Women’s Council

31

New Directions Allery Sandy, Wendy Warrie and Cyril Whyoulter are three highly regarded artists from the remote Pilbara region who have gained national recognition over recent years for their abstract and semi-abstract depictions of Country.

In recent months, each artist has begun independently to explore a more figurative style, and FORM Gallery is delighted to showcase these new works which indicate a bold new creative style.

32

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Allery Sandy Yinjaa-Barni Art Born: 1955, Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia Lives: Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia Allery Sandy is an accomplished Yindjibarndi Elder, award-winning artist, educator, performer and community leader, and Director of Yinjaa-Barni Art. Her distinctive aerial perspectives typically celebrate the wildflowers, creeks, rivers, and bush foods of her Country.

A finalist in 29th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards, Allery’s works have featured in many national exhibitions, most recently in Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, a FORM exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia (2022), and Ngardamarri: Artists of Roebourne (2021). Her paintings are held in the collections of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Flinders University Art Museum, Parliament House of Western Australia Collection, Australian Embassy in Yangon, and Restore Hope Foundation. Allery is also an accomplished singer and founding collaborator of Songs for Freedom produced by Big hART. She has performed with the ensemble at the Perth Festival and Mona Foma.

Allery Sandy Rugged Country Table Land, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 63 x 74.5cm 6683-23 $6,565

33

Wendy Warrie Cheeditha Art Group Born: 1970, Yirramagardu (Roebourne), Western Australia Lives: Cheeditha Community, Western Australia Wendy Warrie is a Yindjibarndi/Kariyarra woman living in Cheeditha Community, who started painting in 1999 through Roebourne TAFE and the Bujinhurrba project in Cossack. She then joined Roebourne Art Group and now paints with Cheeditha Art Group. Wendy’s artwork focuses on the creation stories of the Yindjibarndi people, particularly the Barrimirndi (Rainbow Serpent), and the landscapes of her Country. Her practice often shows where the tide comes in and meets the flooded rivers.

Wendy’s works have featured in many exhibitions in Western Australia, including Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, a FORM exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia (2022); Ngardamarri: Artists of Roebourne (2021); Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists; Colours of Our Country; Ngurra Nyingu, and the Cossack Art Awards. Her work is represented in the Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art.

Wendy Warrie Out On the Horizon, 2024 Acrylic on canvas 70 x 80cm 1/24 $8,525

34

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

Cyril Whyoulter Martumili Artists Born: 1985, Port Hedland, Western Australia Lives: Parnpajinya (Newman) / Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia Kartujarra artist Cyril Whyoulter is closely related to many acclaimed senior Martu artists, including Bugai Whyoulter and Pinyirr Nancy Patterson (dec.). He is also a respected cultural leader in his community and a strong proponent of the importance of intergenerational knowledge transfer. Cyril first developed an interest in art making when he began colouring in pencil with his grandfather Larry Patterson. An avid experimentalist and prolific painter, he has since mastered many painting techniques and developed his own signature style.

Cyril was a finalist in the 35th and 36th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. His work has recently appeared in Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, a FORM exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia (2022); Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists; and Le Chant Aborigène des Sept Soeurs at the International Development for Australian Indigenous Art’s (IDAIA) Paris gallery (2023).

Cyril Whyoulter Untitled, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 46 cm 23-1079 $500

35

REPRESENT (Part 2) also features some not for sale works by the following artists:

Arthur Graham Eades Independent artist Born: 1930s, Broomehill, Western Australia Lives: Katanning, Western Australia Arthur Graham Eades paints from memory, often playing with negative space and block colours to construct captivating compositional arrangements.

Taking up painting at almost 80 years old, art has become a way for Eades to process the cruelties he experienced as a young Noongar man. “I hope if there is someone who had the same cruelty dealt to them, they tell someone. Through this time of telling my story and learning to paint on canvas, has been a healing to my soul and to help me take another step in my older senior years.”

Arthur became known to the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery through working with the Katanning Art Centre to enter work into BRAG’s Noongar Country exhibition in 2020. In addition to his inclusion in REPRESENT (Part 2), his work has featured annually in Noongar Country since 2020.

36

Rocky William Porter

Mangkaja Arts

Martumili Artists

Born: 1964, Great Sandy Desert, Australia

Born: 1972, Warburton, Western Australia

Lives: Fitzroy Crossing, West Kimberley, Western Australia

Lives: Warakurna, Western Australia

Walmajarri artist John Prince Siddon started painting after a horse-riding accident ended his time as a stockman working on cattle stations.

Joining Mangkaja Arts in 2009, Prince took up a family tradition. Like his father, Pompey Siddon (dec.) who was one of the art centre’s founding members, Prince developed a distinctive style and earned recognition from his peers as a prolific and dedicated painter, declaring “Once I learnt how to paint, I just couldn’t stop.”

Rocky William Porter grew up in Docker River in the Kimberley but was born during a family vacation to Warburton. Perhaps his holiday birth laid the foundations for his playful, tongue-in-cheek artistic approach. Rocky’s distinctive style and signature references to pop culture giants (featuring Elvis Presley and 1980s Western movie iconography) offer an ironic entry point for the artist to engage with experiences of remote living, and to celebrate contemporary Warakurna pop culture and Tjukurrpa.

Collating personal and national histories with narrangkarni (ancestral Creation Stories), Prince’s diverse practice spans sculpture, canvas, board and hide. It is always recognisable, however, for its explosions of colour and enticing variety of brushstrokes, where fluid, sweeping markmaking is elegantly balanced beside carefully considered dotting. Prince’s 2020 solo exhibition at Fremantle Art Centre, All Mixed Up, was described as “eclectic, gothic, psychedelic” by critic John McDonald for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Rocky’s bright, streamlined colour palette recalls traditional arcade game aesthetics, perhaps a nod to his school days in Coolgardie, where he remembers spending his free time playing Space Invaders with friends. Rocky has been a part of the Warakurna Art Centre since 2018. His work has appeared in in several instalments of the Desert Mob exhibitions, and as part of In Cahoots (2017) at Fremantle Art Centre.

REPRESENT: ABORIGINAL FIGURATIVE PRACTICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (PART 2)

John Prince Siddon

37

Art Centres Bunbury Regional Art Gallery’s Noongar Art Program Martumili Artists FORM’s Spinifex Hill Studio Tjanpi Desert Weavers Warakurna Artists Yinjaa-Barni Art

Acknowledgements FORM would like to thank the participating art centres and artists for their involvement in this project.

REPRESENT was published by FORM Building a State of Creativity Inc in MArch 2024, to accompany the exhibition of the same name at FORM Gallery.

FORM Building a State of Creativity Inc. 39 Gugeri Street Claremont, Western Australia, 6010

Curated by Andrew Nicholls with the participating artists and art centres, and cultural consultancy from Noongar Elder Sharyn Egan Project managed by Emily Coy Text by Andrew Nicholls

FORM Gallery 4 Shenton Road, Claremont, Western Australia, 6010 mail@form.net.au + 61 8 9385 2200

© FORM 2024. All rights reserved.

Copyright for imagery and written content in this publication is held by FORM Building a State of Creativity or the individual contributors, where applicable.

Every effort has been made to adhere to best practice ICIP protocols. www.form.net.au

Exhibition Presented By

Creative Thinker Partner

Government Partners

@formwa | @formgalleryandcafe 40