Art, words and photos from Central Australian Aboriginal Art Centres Quarterly edition, Winter 2022
THE DESART RADAR
Keringke Arts does 2022 Alice Springs Beanie Festival Each year the ladies at Keringke Arts drop their brushes and dot sticks for a week to create some colourful beanies for the Alice Springs Beanie Festival. ‘It is an opportunity for us to get creative in a medium we don’t normally use, and have fun with it,’ said Art Centre Manager Bryce Hartnett. Many Desart member art centres participate in the festival and have taken beanie-making into a distinctive regional art form. Keringke Arts will exhibit 21 beanies this year during the festival which runs from 24–27 June at Central Craft, Araluen Arts Precinct.
Images: (top) Chantelle Mulladad wearing her creation, with Jilary “Peanut” Lynch, (bottom) the women during the workshop facilitated by Tanya Hattingh. Images courtesy the art centre.
Kintyre For the first time, art centres and artists from the Pilbara have collaborated to collectively represent the regions’ richly diverse contemporary Aboriginal art. Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara, featuring Martumili Artists, is now on at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. One of the central works of the Tracks We Share exhibition is Kintyre, a 3 x 5 metre collaborative canvas painted by 23 Martumili artists in protest to uranium mining on the culturally significant site. Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara Now showing at AGWA until 28 August 2022. tracksweshare.com.au
‘We want for non-Martu people to see it and learn about our fight, our story, about this country.’ – Curtis Taylor Image: Martumili Artists, Kintyre Kintyre,, 2020–2021. Acrylic on canvas, 5000 x 3000mm. Image courtesy of Martumili Artists.
Image: Portrait of Hetti Perkins, 2021. Image courtesy and © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Image: Portrait of Marisa Maher. Image courtesy Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre.
Desart presents the 31st Desert Mob Desert Mob is a celebration of one of the most significant art movements, across vast distances of country and kinship, forming a bold and exhilarating expression of desert Aboriginal art and culture. Desart is proud to announce that Hetti Kemerre Perkins and Marisa Maher will curate the 31st Desert Mob Exhibition, as the first ever Aboriginal curatorial team for Desert Mob. Hetti Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon curator, writer, advisor, and presenter with 30 years of national and international experience working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual arts. She is currently Senior Curator-at-large for the National Gallery in Canberra. Marisa Maher, a western Aranda woman, is an emerging curator and assistant Manager of Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre based in Mparntwe. Marisa has curated works for Iltja Ntjarra’s 22nd and 23rd Sydney Biennale shows, and the 2019 Tarnanthi Exhibition.
‘ They were mining uranium. It might get into the waterways. The wind might carry the uranium to Parnngurr, where we live, and mix with the water. So we painted this protest painting.’ – Desmond Taylor Image: Desmond Taylor and Muuki Taylor with the Kintyre artwork, 2021. Photo by Duncan Wright, courtesy the art centre.
“ The painting tells the story of my father’s country,” Miller says. “I’m really pleased my father’s Dreaming will be displayed on the Opera House and everyone will see it. I’m very proud and honoured.” – Yadjidta David Miller Image: Ngintaka by Yadjidta David Miller projected onto the Sydney Opera House for Australia Day 2022. Photo: Anna Kucera.
Another win for Adrian Jangala Robertson! Bindi Mwerre Anthurre artist, Adrian Jangala Robertson, has won the coveted Alice Prize for his painting, Family in Yalpirakinu. Established in 1970, the biennial Alice Prize is one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious regional contemporary art prizes attracting artists from across the country. Adrian’s distinctive style is painted memories of his mother’s Country, Yalpirakinu. He often refers to his family and the desert mountains, ridges and trees. This Country is also known as Yuelamu, and is north-west of Mparntwe/Alice Springs.
Images: (top) Portrait of Adrian Jangala Robertson, (bottom) Family in Yalpirakinu, Yalpirakinu, Adrian Jangala Robertson, 2022. Images courtesy the art centre.
Pmarra Nurna-kanha Ntarntarai – Care for our Country ‘My Country means more to me than anything that’s why I stand up for it and all the stories in it. It’s my family legacy.’ – Selma Coulthard Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre are known for their experimentation with materials, forms, and methods. The group’s work commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney 2022 uses repurposed discarded road signs, found everywhere in and around Mparntwe, proclaiming an assertive political voice. This project was supported by Artback NT with funds from Northern Territory Regional Arts. Images: (left) Mervyn Rubuntja with one of his works, (bottom) Sydney Biennale 2022 installation. Photos courtesy the art centre.
Ikuntji Artists on the cover of iconic Vogue magazine! Ikuntji Artists is proud to be on the cover of Vogue Australia’s historic May edition. This latest issue of Vogue gives a powerful voice to First Nations artists and models working in textiles and fashion. Ikuntji Artists is excited to be a part of the First Nations textile fabric movement and the way the world’s oldest design traditions are shaping Australian fashion.
Image: Vogue Australia May 2022 Cover. Clockwise from left: Elaine George wears an Alice Nampitjinpa Dixon and Carolyn Smith dress. Magnolia Maymuru wears a Lillardia Briggs-Houston dress and necklace. Charlee Fraser wears an Hermès dress. Cindy Rostron wears an Hermès dress. All wearing Bulgari jewellery. Hair: Alan White. Make-up: Victoria Baron. Manicure: Jessica Diez. Movement director: Matthew Gode. Photographer: Jess Ruby James.
ISSN 2209-7988
Alice Springs Beanie Festival
3–10 July
National NAIDOC week
19–23 July
Australian Ceramics Triennale
5–7 August
Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair
7 August – 6 February
Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
1–7 September
Art Centres on Screen
8 Sept – 23 October
Desert Mob Exhibition
10 September
Desert Mob MarketPlace
**As COVID-19 may impact the delivery of any of the events listed here please check respective websites and socials for up to date information.
Email blasts for Desart members Keep up to date with industry news, grants, art prizes and competition opportunities. Email programofficer@desart.com.au if you’re missing out on our grant and competition email blasts.
P +61 08 8953 4736 E admin@desart.com.au www.desart.com.au Chief Executive Officer Philip Watkins ceo@desart.com.au Angie Stahl General Manager generalmanager@desart.com.au Administration admin@desart.com.au
Finance Mellisa Kramer finance@desart.com.au Desert Mob Producer Carmel Young desertmob@desart.com.au Strong Business Program Officer Eliza Walters programofficer@desart.com.au Project Officer Patricia Pearce projectofficer@desart.com.au SAM Database Project Manager Bronwyn Taylor sam@desart.com.au
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