Minyma Mankurpa Ernabella La Nguru

Minyma Mankurpa Ernabella La Nguru Three Ladies from Ernabella

Minyma Mankurpa Ernabella La Nguru Three Ladies from Ernabella

Everywhen Artspace October 14-November 2 In partnership with Ernabella Arts Front: Yurpiya Lionel, Anamura, 2021, acrylic on linen, 150 x 100cm (detail).

Left: Tjulyata Kulyuru painting Over: L to R: Tjulyata Kulyuru, Yurpiya Lionel painting, Atipalku Intjalki’s paint palettes at Ernbella

Text ©Susan McCulloch Design ©Lisa Reidy Artworks © the artists Photographs of artists © the photographers and Ernabella Arts Published by Everywhen Artspace

EXHIBITINGARTISTS

Yurpiya Lionel Atipalku Intjalki Tjulyata Kulyuru Elizabeth Dunn Langkaliki Lewis Michelle Lewis TjariyaStanley Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM Unurupa (Nami) Kulyuru

Women artists of Ernabella Two senior artists Yurpiya Lionel and Atipalku Intjalki are joined by talented emerging artist Tjulyata Kulyuru with a selection of works by 7 other women artists from the APY Lands’ Ernabella Arts.

Established in 1948, Ernabella Arts is the oldest established Aboriginal art centre in Australia.

Aboriginal-owned and run, the inimitable artistic reputation of Ernabella Arts lies in the adaptability and innovation of the artists who have worked in many different mediums for more than 70 years.

Artists working at Ernabella in the 1960s produced the first abstracted desert designs – a unique Ernabella design called ‘walka’ – in colourful large format screenprints that were made for sale.

All the women whose works are represented in this exhibition have had illustrious and often lengthy art careers that span everything from making rugs from the wool of sheep that used to be raised in the area, to weaving in grass and raffia, printmaking, batiks, ceramics and paintings on paper and canvas. Several are also teachers, and one – the late Mrs Stanley – was a traditional healer.

The cultural integrity and knowledge of the senior women is profound. Passing this knowledge on to younger generations as well as sharing permitted aspects of it with the outside world with the aim of enabling greater understanding has been a a lifelong commitment and a significant impetus for much of their art making.

Yurpiya Lionel and Atipalku Intjalki have worked with Ernabella Arts for several decades and have established highly regarded art practices. The fluid geometric work of the younger Tjulyata Kulyuru continues their tradition with distinctive style.

The three ladies are joined by other women Ernabella artists Elizabeth Dunn, Katrina Tjitayi, Langkaliki Lewis, Michelle Lewis, Tjariya Stanley, Tjunkaya Tapayi OAM and Unurupa Nami Kulyuru.

Susan McCulloch and Emily McCulloch Childs October 2021

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Yurpiya Lionel

One of Ernabella’s leading artists, Yurpiya Lionel has been a practising artist for more than 40 years and her most recent style of fine-lined often subtly-coloured paintings has put her at the forefront of contemporary Aboriginal art. She depicts a place called Anumara near Irrunytju (Wingellina) in WA. This is Yurpiya’s family’s country. Anumara is also the name for a kind of caterpillar and Anumara is the tjukurpa (dreaming) place for this caterpillar. This caterpillar lives in the grass and can be eaten if the grass it eats is removed. The place shares the same colours of the caterpillar – brown, yellow and pale green. Keeping this place safe will ensure that the caterpillars multiply.

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Yurpiya Lionel, Anamura, 2021, acrylic on linen, 84 x 170cm | MM5539 | $4500

Yurpiya Lionel, Anamura, 2021, acrylic on linen, 67 x 143cm | MM5491 | $2900

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Yurpiya Lionel, Anamura, 2021, acrylic on linen, 90 x 150cm | MM5490 | $4200

Yurpiya Lionel, Anamura, 2021, acrylic on linen, 92 x 150cm | MM5489 | $4300

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Yurpiya Lionel, Anamura, 2021, acrylic on linen, 100 x 150cm | MM5488 | $4500

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Atipalku Intjalki

Atipalku Intjalki is a senior artist who started working with the Ernabella Craft Room in the 1960s. Her paintings are characterised by innovation, including unusual and highly effective colour combinations and ingenious brush work.

Her paintings are of a men’s law place and the creation stories (Tjukurpa) of her father, Mulayangu. She says, “They made this place and campsite. Mulayangu made this place.

Over in the west is the other side of Amata which is my father’s country. This is a sacred place called Tankalanya. This is all I can say.”

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Atipalku Intjalki, Tjukurpa Mulayangu, 2021, acrylic on linen, 80 x 148cm | MM5538 | $2700

Atipalku Intjalki, Tjukurpa Mulayangu, 2021, acrylic on linen, 83 x 170cm | MM5537 | $3200

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Atipalku Intjalki, Tjukurpa Mulayangu, 2021, acrylic on linen, 89 x 149cm | MM5536 | $2900

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Tjulyata Kulyuru

One of Ernabella’s rising star artists, Tjulyata Kulyuru comes from a family of well known artists. Her abstract, rhythmic line work is both highly distinctive and unique amongst today’s painters of the APY Lands.

Tjulyata’s paintings are of waterholes and water sources – knowledge of which, for desert dwellers, was critical to their survival.

This resulted in an intimate understanding of the landscape which continues today. Deep familiarity with the topography of Country and the way rain would interact with the land ensured constant sources of water could be found. ‘Tjukula’ means rock-holes, which pepper the Musgrave ranges. Between visits, Anangu (people) use rocks and spinifex construction to guard these from spoilage by animals and, particularly in more recent times, from feral and stock animals, cattle, camels, horses and donkeys.

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Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 92 x 152cm | MM5482 | $3300

Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 100 x 150cm | MM5487 | $3400

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Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 100 x 122cm | MM5486 | $2700

Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 92 x 150cm | MM5485 | $3300

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Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 68 x 150cm | MM5483 | $2500

Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 84 x 169cm | MM5484 | $3400

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Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 100 x 150cm | MM5481 | $3400

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Elizabeth Dunn

Elizabeth Dunn is one of Ernabella’s rising star painters and ceramacists whose ceramics have gained her much attention and whose paintings of the creation site of Piltati are now doing similar.

The large and important creation site of Piltati waterhole in the west of the APY Lands is Elizabeth’s great-grandfather’s country.

The dreaming story she relates in her paintings is about two brothers married to two sisters and the Rainbow Serpent (Wanampi) that is said to still live in Piltati – creating rains for bush tucker to grow and provide meat on the land.

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Elizabeth Dunn, Elizabeth Dunn’s story, 2020, acrylic on linen, 120 x 150cm | MM5192 | $4200

Elizabeth Dunn, Piltati – Elizabeth Dunn’s story, 2020, acrylic on linen, 100 x 180cm | MM5191 | $4200

Katrina Tjitayi

Katrina Tjitayi is a senior artist and educator with a BA in Education who has worked in both education and art at Ernabella since the 1990s.

Here she is depicting the creation story of two sisters married to two brothers and the evolution of the large Piltati waterhole in the west of the APY Lands where the Rainbow Serpent (Wanampi) is still said to live – creating rains for bush tucker to grow and provide meat on the land.

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Katrina Tjitayi, Piltati, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 76 x 120cm | MM5300 | $1900

Langkaliki Lewis

Langkaliki Lewis is one of Ernabella’s rising star painters and ceramacists whose work in both mediums is attracting significant attention.

This is a depiction of the artists’ country.

The different colours and designs represent variations in the landscape. The word ‘ngura’ also has a far broader meaning which includes the place to which a person belongs along with their language and family connections. Paintings of Country or Ngura often include the artist’s memories of Country and significant elements it in it, recorded from memory and from passed down learning from forebears. Such works are often depicted from an aerial perspective.

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Langkaliki Lewis, Ngayuku ngura, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 82 x 92cm | MM5302 | $1900

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Michelle Lewis

Michelle Lewis is a rising star Ernabella painter and ceramacist who comes from a family of well known artists. With its innovative imagery, her work has attracted much attention since she started painting for exhibition in 2018.

Michelle’s father’s country is tjala tjukurpa (honey ant dreaming). Michelle and her family still visit this country where she draws special attention to the natural elements on the land which are then represented in her paintings. Michelle says she paints the landscape of her beautiful country from above, as you might see it from an airplane or as a bird looking down -depicting the honey ants tunnels though the sandy soil, waterholes, trees and shrubs.’ She describes this country as “quiet” (empty).

Michelle Lewis, Michelle’s Tjala dreaming (honey ant dreaming),

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2020, acrylic on canvas, 106 x 165cm | MM5190 | $3900

Michelle Lewis, Michelle’s Tjala dreaming (honey ant dreaming), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 198cm | MM5092 | $6500

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Tjariya Stanley

A traditional healer (Ngankari) as well as painter and educator Tjariya Stanley (1938-2020) had a long and illustrious career spanning more than 70 years since her first drawings were collected by ethnographer Charles Mountford in the late 1940s.

This painting relates an important women’s creation story of the journeys of two ancestral creation sister sand their journeys across a vast swathe of the centre of Australia, Mrs Stanley was only permitted to relate a short part of their journey relating to her traditional country of Irrunytju (Wingellina) where the sisters performed important ceremonies.

Tjariya Nungalka Stanley, Minyma Kutjara Irrunytju,

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2014, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 121cm | MM3620 | $2700

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Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM

One of Ernabella’s most senior and revered artists, Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM, has had a long and illustrious art career in many mediums and over more than 50 years.

A strong cultural educator, Mrs Tapaya has initiated many projects to ensure than culture is passed down through the generations as shown here in her extraordinary Seven Sisters painting in which she has recorded the story of the painting in text as an educative tool for Pitjantjatjara youth.

Kungkarangkalpa means the Seven Sisters.

This is an extensive creation story that relates to the Pleiades constellation in the southern hemisphere. The story traverses Australia taking on different forms, however local women are privy to the part of the story which takes place in the country near Ernabella.

Tjunkaya has the rights to paint this story at her traditional lands of Attila or Mount Connor. She says: “For this part of the story, the man called Nyiru is chasing the sisters as he wants to sleep with the oldest sister. All the younger sisters are deeply afraid of him. As Nyiru is chasing the sisters, he tries to catch them by using magic to turn himself into the most tempting bush tomatoes for the sisters to eat and the most beautiful ili (fig) tree for the sisters to camp under. However, the sisters are aware of his magic and go hungry and run through the night rather than be caught by Nyiru. Eventually, to escape Nyiru, the sisters fly into the sky where they turn into stars and form the constellation”.

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Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa/Seven Sisters, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 106 x 163cm | MM5349 | $3500

Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa/Seven Sisters, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 170cm | MM5348 | $3500

Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa/Seven Sisters,

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2018, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 152cm | MM3266 | $4700

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Unurupa (Nami) Kulyuru

With a Bachelor of Education, Unurupa (Nami) Kulyuru was a senior teacher at Ernabella for many years. She resigned from teaching to concentrate on painting full time in 2015 – her richly-coloured paintings being exhibited since in Ernabella’s representative galleries Australia-wide and internationally.

Here her painting relates the story of the two sisters (Minyma Kutjara) – to which there are numerous parts or episodes. This part of the story is significant to the women of Ernabella . Here a gathering of ancestral minyma mingkiri (mouse women) took place and where they collected bush foods before they continued on their journeys of a vast tract of Country and the many dramatic incidents they both created and encountered in their travels to what is now Alice Springs and far beyond.

Unurupa (Nami) Kulyuru, Minyma kutjara (Near Ernabella),

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2019, acrylic on canvas, 83 x 170cm | MM4348 | $3200

Biographies Yurpiya Lionel is a Pitjantjatjara woman born in 1960 in the homeland of Donald’s Well, near Kenmore Park about 45 kms east of Ernabella. She is the daughter of the late Pantjti Lionel an important member of Ernabella Arts t for many years.

Yurpiya started painting at Ernabella Arts in 2004 and is also a very accomplished fibre sculptor and weaver. She has three children and several grandchildren - her daughters Rachael and Alison Lionel are emerging painters and ceramic artists.

Yurpiya’s main painting theme is that of the Caterpillar (Anumara) Dreaming story of her mother’s country near Kanpi. Her depictions of the caterpillar tracks as they weave under and over the ground were originally multicoloured. In recent years she has refined her style to that of fine lines and more subtle colouration. It is these more recent works that have been singled out for praise by critics and led her to be chosen as a finalist in the 2015 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and sought after by leading collectors. Her work has been included in group exhibition presented by her art centre’s representative galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, Broome, Alice Springs, Canberra, Darwin, the USA, Belgium and Singapore. Her work is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria and the University of Newcastle and was selected to appear in the inaugural exhibition Tarnathi at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2015.

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Atipalku Intjalki is a Pitjantjatara woman born in 1955 at Ernabella, She started working in the Ernabella craft room in the 1960s/70s making wool rugs from the sheep of the area as well as weaving. She has painted for many decades – her paintings often characterised by innovation, unusual and highly effective colour combinations, different brush techniques and evolving imagery. She paints her mother’s story of both her mother and father’s countries.

Atipalku’s work has been included in group exhibitions presented by Ernabella’s representative galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, Broome, Alice Springs, Canberra, Darwin, the USA, Belgium and Singapore. Her work is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia.

Tjuylata Kulyuru is a highly talented emerging Pitjantjatjara artist born in Alice Springs in 1978. She comes from a family of artists including her mother who was a senior artist at Ernabella in its mission days and who exceled in hand spinning sheep’s wool and creating knitted and crocheted fashion.

Her two older sisters are acclaimed artists Amanda Kulyuru and Unurupa Nami Kulyuru.

Her father is the Ernabella pastor Graham Kulyuru. Tjulyata paints a very important story about Tjukula (waterholes). In 2020 Tjulyata’s first exhibition quality work was shown in Nganampa ngura-nguru nyurampa ngurakutu (From our place to your place) at Aboriginal Signature Gallery in Brussels;

I Know My Country at Artitja Gallery (WA) and The Summer Collector’s Show, Everywhen Artspace, (Vic).

Elizabeth Dunn is a Pitjantjatjara artist born at Ernabella in 1973. She went to high school in Adelaide before returning home. She spent her childhood watching her elders paint and now depicts her grandmother’s country – a highly significant, large, smoothsided rockhole called Piltati near Nyapari. She also depicts stories relating to Kampurara – Bush Tomatoes. She is also a talented tjanpi weaver and jeweler. She first began painting at Papunya Tjupi Arts in Papunya.

A talented ceramacist as well as painter, she was a finalist in the Indigenous Ceramics Art Award at the Shepparton Art Museum with her work acquired by the National Museum of Australia. Her ceramics have been show in major exhibitions in Alice Springs, Melbourne, NSW and in the Desert Mob exhibition as well as featuring in the touring exhibition Clay Stories: Contemporary Indigenous ceramics from remote Australia at JamFactory presented by Sabbia Gallery, Sydney f for Tarnanthi and touring 2018-2019.

Her paintings and ceramics have featured in Ernabella Arts representative galleries in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Brussels, Alice Springs, South Freemantle, Sydney and Mornington Peninsula. In 2018 she was a finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and was the winner of the Indigenous Award, Port Hacking Potter Group 50th National Pottery Competition and

in 2019 her work was shown at Desert Mob Exhibition Araluen Art Centre.

Katrina Tjitayi is Pitjantjatjara artist born at Ernabella in 1962.Her mother was one of the first Anangu teachers at Ernabella Anangu School in the 1940s. On leaving school Katrina studied at UniSA through the AnTEP program, obtaining a Bachelor of Education.

She has worked in Anangu education for more than 20 years including as the Anangu School Improvement Coordinator. She first began painting at the art centre in late 2016, working initially in painting and then trying her hand at ceramic art too. Her work has been exhibited around Australia and overseas, including Sydney, Alice Springs, Darwin, Broome, Mittagong and Brussels, Belgium. Katrina has two children and is a strong advocate or children’s rights.

Langkaliki Lewis, born in 1973, is the daughter of senior artist Atipalku Intjalki, a significant craft artist and painter, and Adrian Intjalki (timber artist) and mother to three daughters. Her sister is the highly skilled potter and painter Lynette Lewis. She went to school in Ernabella and then Adelaide. On returning from Adelaide she began working at the Ernabella TAFE and later the community office and store. She is an up-and-coming artist who is showing great promise in her sensitive depictions of her country on canvas.

Her ceramics were exhibited at Sabbia Gallery in Sydney in 2014 and her paintings have been exhibited at major galleries in Australia.

She is a published author including as copresenter and writer of ‘Red Dirt Curriculum: Re-imagining Remote Education’, presented as part of the Sidney Myer Rural Lecture series in 2013. In 2018 she won the 2018 Aunty Josie Agius Award for her work as the Wellbeing Coordinator, her current position at Ernabella Anangu School.

Michelle Lewis was born in Ernabella in 1983.

She went to school in Ernabella and later worked at the Ernabella Clinic. She is a rising star artist of the Ernabella painting studio. She is daughter of senior painter Atipalku Intjalki and master punu (wood) maker Adrian Intjalki.

Her sisters are Langaliki and Lynette Lewis are both accomplished artists and her brother Jeffrey Lewis is an emerging artist. Michelle began painting at the very end of 2017 and has quickly developed an individual style based around her father’s country at Makiri, east of Ernabella. She has three children.

Michelle is regarded as a very talented up and coming painter for her unique landscapes in which she captures both an aerial view of the country while simultaneously tracing its underground water sources. Since she started painting for exhibition in 2016, her work has featured in Ernabella Arts representative galleries in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Brussels, Alice Springs, South Freemantle, Sydney and Mornington Peninsula.

Tjariya Stanley 1938-2020 was a Pitjantjatjara woman, born in Wingellina. She was a Ngankari (traditional healer) and held strong

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traditional knowledge. Tjariya was involved in the art centre for decades and over that time mastered several different mediums including batik and painting. Her first drawings, collected by Charles Mountford in the 1940s, are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Initially Tjariya assisted at the craft room, making floor rugs and knitting jumpers, the first enterprises undertaken here.

In the 1970s she learnt batik from Nyukana (Daisy) Baker following Nyukana’s visit to Indonesia. Tjariya developed into one of Ernabella’s most accomplished batik artists.

She also taught herself weaving with native grass and raffia (tjanpi) and crocheting mukata (beanies) with the sheep wool that she used to hand spin. In her paintings she told the tjukurpa (law) of her country and family. Her strong mark making drew instant attention and her paintings have been purchased by ArtBank and important private collectors. Her work has been acquired for several collections including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Museum of Scotland. In 2016 she was a Finalist (collaborative) in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. A stalwart of the community and the heart of the art centre, she always kept culture strong an d was an excellent story teller, delighting in telling stories of when she was a young girl growing up at the mission.

She has also told the sad stories, relating her personal experience of the atomic bomb testings at Maralinga and its effects on the Ernabella Community. This was incorporated into the Ngapartji Ngapartji theatre

production which toured Australia for over a year. One of Tjariya’s daughters, Renita, is also an important Ernabella artist.

Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM is a Pitjantjatjara woman born in 1947. Her country is Atilla (Mount Connor). and she grew up at the Ernabella Mission. In mission days, the building which is now the art centre was originally used as a food hall by the missionaries. In 1948 it became the Craft Room, where the first work was by women, spinning wool and rug making. Most of the senior artists painting on the APY Lands today have passed through this building across more than one of its incarnations.

Tjunkaya began work in the craft room in the medium of batik and became one of the outstanding artists with work in several public collections. Her work was featured on the cover of Judith Ryan’s ‘Across the Desert: Aboriginal Batik from Central Australia.’ She also works in ceramics, tjanpi, punu, print making, spinning and mukata making and her work in these mediums has been seen in numerous exhibitions in Australia and internationally since 1971, in public and private galleries. Since 2013 Tjunkaya has chosen to concentrate exclusively on painting and tjanpi sculpture. This focus has seen her become one of the most in demand female artists on the APY Lands and increasingly recognised in these two mediums. In 2010 and 2011 she was collected by Artbank, and in 2011 and 2012 selected as a finalist in the Togart Contemporary Art Award. In 2012 her

tjulpu (bird) tjanpi sculptures were selected for exhibition in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (the Telstras). 2011 marked the commencement of Tjunkaya’s 5th decade of working at Ernabella Arts. In 2018 in recognition of Tjunkaya’s life’s work as a representative of her people, an artist and a writer she received the Gladys Elphick Award for Lifetime Achievement.

In 2020 Tjunkaya was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her work in education and art.

Unurupa (Nami) Kulyuru is a Pitjantjatjara woman born in 1962. She started working full time at Ernabella Anangu School when she was 19, teaching preschool for over three decades. She has a Bachelor of Education through Anangu Territory Education Program (AnTEP). She first started painting at Ernabella Arts during the 2013 school holidays. In 2015 she retired from the school and started working full-time as an artist, and her work has since been exhibited many times both nationally and internationally in Ernabella Arts representative galleries in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Brussels, Alice Springs, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. Unurupa works alongside her sister Amanda Kulyuru and aunt Imiyari Adamson.

Her father, Graham Kulyuru, is a gifted timber craftsman, spear-maker and ceramic artist.

Unurupa is also a gifted language teacher and translator. Every year in January she teaches the Pitjantjatjara Summer School through the University of South Australia.

EVERYWHEN Artspace specialises in contemporary Australian Aboriginal art featuring paintings, barks, ochres, ceramics, sculptures and works on paper from 40 + Aboriginal art centres from around Australia.

Directors Susan McCulloch OAM and Emily McCulloch Childs.

EVERYWHEN Artspace 39 Cook Street, Flinders VIC 3929 T: +61 3 5989 0496 E: info@everywhen.com.au everywhen.com.au