Journey through Culture - Presented as part of Tarnanthi 2019

REDOT FINE ART GALLERY presents

Journey through Culture Presented as part of Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

14 October – 22 October 2019 nthspace Adelaide 31–33 North Street, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia

For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.

c o n t e m p o r a r y

i n d i g e n o u s

a r t

SPINIFEX ARTS

Various Spinifex Artists (COLLABORATIVE) Minyma Tjuta Acrylic on Linen 200 x 290cm 19-323

Seven women: Dora Parker, Ivy Laidlaw, Myrtle Pennington, Ngalpingka Simms, Tracey Simms, Sophia Brown and Kanta Donnegan, have painted this Seven Sisters story, a major Western Desert Tjukurpa that traverses Spinifex Country at numerous sites.

The story pertains to the creation of the landscape and details the women’s travels as they sing inma, collect bush foods and pursue a giant python, as they are in turn pursued closely by the lustful Wati Nyiru (man). Specific events in this story where the women intersect with Nyiru, form geographic and culturally important sites, many which are for women only.

At Tuntunya rockhole which is Kanta Donnegan’s country she tells the story of the sisters painting their nipples getting ready for ceremony. The word for nipple is tuntun in Spinifex language.

Sophia Brown painted a site called Kulyuru her grandfather’s place, where the women chase the python who forms a large hole in the rock as he escapes. A tree overlooking the canyon at Kulyuru is Nyiru, never far from the sisters. The python winds its way across the landscape of Kulyuru creating a large creek bed. At Kuru Ala in the north of Spinifex country one of the women is grabbed by Nyiru, she is later healed by her sisters in the cave. The women’s journey and sites travelled are represented by the many rockholes or roundels in this painting. Wati Nyiru is represented by his camp and spear and can be seen in numerous places across this canvas.

Ivy Laidlaw has painted the women sitting in their camp, with Wati Nyiru waiting nearby, with his spear and spear thrower.

Dora Parker has painted the site of Purpurnya.

Ngalpingka and Tracey Simms, mother and daughter, have worked together to paint Wayiyul country close to Karilywara (Patjarr) in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands of Western Australia. It is where Ngalpingka was born and grew up living a traditional nomadic life with her family. She knows this country intimately, in both a physical and spiritual sense.

The seven sisters camped at Wayiyul and Nyiru has been stalking them, camping some distance from where they stop and hiding behind his windbreak, poking his head over to take a look. The women are disturbed by his constant pursuing of them and quickly take off to camp away from him. They travel to (roundels are the sites) Karilywara, Miputjara, Tikatika, Wanarn and Yalara.

The younger women who worked on this painting continue to learn the details of this extensive story under the guidance of their senior close relatives. These women will be the bearers of this story for the following generations and express the story through painting and other contemporary art forms. The younger artists are; Tracey Simms, Dora Parker, and Sophia Brown.

Seven Ladies infront of Seven Sisters Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Spinifex Artists

Various Spinifex Artists (COLLABORATIVE) Pila Nguru Acrylic on Linen 200 x 230cm 18-400

Six senior Spinifex men have collaborated to create this painting that gives us a depiction of Pila Nguru - from Spinifex Country. The Men have connection to a swathe of significant sites that inter relate to one another through story, song and cultural authority. There is birthright and paternal links that govern who can depict which sites but the men know the others country and the Tjukurpa associated within it intimately. It is this intimacy, this complete knowledge of one another’s place in Country and Culture that allows the men to join in such a way. Here they give us a glimpse into a way of seeing the world, a depiction of birth and creation from an intrinsically linked position where the creation of country is the story and the song.

Roy Underwood takes us through the monumental sand ridges of Miramiratjara as its being guarded by a powerful Wanampi (Water Serpent) who travels through the ground appearing when necessary. Fred Grant depicts the abundance of sites, the interlaced travelling tracks that carried him to this place, to Pirapi from the beginning, wandering through Country with meaning. Ned Grant follows the paths of the wata (tree roots) and takes us deep underground within the labyrinth of twists and turns, created by the first beings to surface through the Ngalta (Currajong) that holds the life affirming water for travelling through this arid landscape. Ian Rictor places Kamanti, the site representing the Two Men who made this their home on the journey of Creation. Lennard Walker takes on the journey north to his home of Kulyuru where the Minyma Tjuta created the landscape and Byron Brooks guides us to the east as we watch country associated with his childhood unfold.

This multitude of sites, of country, of fauna and flora was all created as the first beings moved though. Traversing and shaping the landscape all at once, telling the story, the moral narrative and physical reminders of their power and presence that people still live by today.

Timo HOGAN Lake Baker Acrylic on Linen 200 x 230cm 19-341

Timo Hogan paints his country of Lake Baker, a large salt lake to the north of traditional Spinifex Country.

Timo says ’this is a dangerous place’. For it is here that the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Men Creation Line) is present. Timo depicts the two men as the concentric circles as they are now etched into the landscape as two grassy knolls upon the lakes surface. He places tracks leading to these, interpreting the movement of the men as they search for food away from the lake, always alert to the presence of the powerful Wanampi (water serpent) that resides in the rockhole on the other side, where he drinks the water. This Wanampi is dangerous and must be appeased before approaching.

Timo states that he is family and can let the Wanampi know of his peaceful intentions.

These are creation beings who etched a moral narrative within the landscape that they themselves created. It is their movements that left a mapped environment that is both religion and song.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Pukara Acrylic on Linen 137 x 140cm 19-337

Lawrence Pennington touches the deepest qualities of the Tjukurpa in the unseen, taking the broad brush to minimal resemblance of the characters that inhabited the first journey. He guides the significant site of Pukara effortlessly onto the canvas, channelling the essence of Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Men Creation Line) from a time before when Lawrence walked throughout Spinifex Country. A time when he walked with the Song, following the physical manifestation in the landscape, left by the creation beings, of the stories that made it so, of the characters that played out the journey.

Myrtle PENNINGTON Kanpala Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 19-344

The Spinifex People inhabited the Great Victoria Desert long before Europeans landed on this continent’s shoreline. They survived in an arid but beautiful environment, equipped with the necessary skills required for such a life. A spiritual people guided by cultural law were able to exist virtually unchallenged and unchanged until the 1950’s when the British atomic testing began at Emu Fields and later at Maralinga. These tests directly displaced the Spinifex People and it would be over thirty years before their traditional lands were finally returned to them in the form of native title and they were able to once again access the country that formed them from birth. For the landscape holds the culture of the Spinifex People and their daily interactions are governed by the moral compass of the first beings who created the physical realm. With story interwoven in song and dance, the country maps a tangible way forward for the people to reflect and learn upon.

It is this country, this spiritual landscape that defines and permeates Myrtle Pennington’s work. Although abstract in appearance each piece holds part history, part ceremony and part country. Myrtle assumes the vastness of the landscape imbued with the colourful light in profound yet simple compositions. She recalls the places that sustained her during those early formative years and gives rise to the sites of Mulpulya and Kanpa, surrounding them with sandhills and salt lakes or plains that lead to rocky escarpments.

She reads the scene from a sense of belonging, of being interwoven into the fabric of the landscape she creates. All this Myrtle captures and conveys with ease, moving the brush and colour freely, building a textural quality that prompts one to walk with her through this vast Country.

Myrtle PENNINGTON Kanpala Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 19-345

The Spinifex People inhabited the Great Victoria Desert long before Europeans landed on this continent’s shoreline. They survived in an arid but beautiful environment, equipped with the necessary skills required for such a life. A spiritual people guided by cultural law were able to exist virtually unchallenged and unchanged until the 1950’s when the British atomic testing began at Emu Fields and later at Maralinga. These tests directly displaced the Spinifex People and it would be over thirty years before their traditional lands were finally returned to them in the form of native title and they were able to once again access the country that formed them from birth. For the landscape holds the culture of the Spinifex People and their daily interactions are governed by the moral compass of the first beings who created the physical realm. With story interwoven in song and dance, the country maps a tangible way forward for the people to reflect and learn upon.

It is this country, this spiritual landscape that defines and permeates Myrtle Pennington’s work. Although abstract in appearance each piece holds part history, part ceremony and part country. Myrtle assumes the vastness of the landscape imbued with the colourful light in profound yet simple compositions. She recalls the places that sustained her during those early formative years and gives rise to the sites of Mulpulya and Kanpa, surrounding them with sandhills and salt lakes or plains that lead to rocky escarpments.

She reads the scene from a sense of belonging, of being interwoven into the fabric of the landscape she creates. All this Myrtle captures and conveys with ease, moving the brush and colour freely, building a textural quality that prompts one to walk with her through this vast Country.

Byron BROOKS Birth Date 1951 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Great Victoria Desert Skin/Clan Tjuntjuntjara

Byron was born between Tjawarr and Tjintirkara between a significant men’s, Wati Kutjara (Two Men) and women’s, Kungkarra (Seven Sisters) dreaming tracks adjacent to the SA border. Byron was transported to Cundeelee Mission via Kulkapin as a 10-12 year old boy.

Although he was not part of the Elders group who orchestrated the return to country when Byron returned to Spinifex in the mid-1980s he immersed himself in to all things cultural as if making up for lost time. He started on the Men’s native title painting in 1997 and consistently painted thereafter collaboratively and individually.

Sophia BROWN Birth Date 16/12/1986 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Kalgoorlie Skin/Clan Tjuntjuntjara

Sophia Brown was born in Kalgoorlie. Her mother, whose country Pilki is just to the west of Tjuntjuntjara Community was living in Coonana at the time of Sophia’s birth. This is before the Spinifex People made the long journey back to their traditional Lands in the Great Victoria Desert after being displaced during the late 1950’s due to the atomic testings by the British and Australian Governments.

She has paternal connection to the ‘Seven Sisters’ significant site of Kulyuru, situated to the north of traditional Spinifex Lands. Today Sophia lives in Tjuntjuntjara where as well as painting she is a leading creative with the Milpa project, a dedicated new media space managed by SAP. She and the Milpa team won the Inland Art Prize’ Leonora 2019 for their short animation, Patju. Sophia is a staff member for the Spinifex Arts Project.

Kathleen (Kanta) DONNEGAN Birth Date circa 1944 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Kapi Piti Kutjara Pitjantjatjara Skin/Clan

Kathleen (Kanta) Donnegan is married to Ian Rictor - her kuri pikitja, often translated as “promised one”. As if forged by the early years in her country, Kathleen is a gentle soul and has assiduously painted with the Spinifex Art Project since representing her country in the Women’s Native Title Painting in 1997. Kathleen has painted on most of the women’s collaboratives produced by the Spinifex women. Her works are succinct and economic but also fulsome without being over busy. In effect, they are patently honest portrayals of her country - an epitome of the artist herself.

Fred GRANT Birth Date circa 1943 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Ukatjatjara Skin/Clan Pitjantjatjara

Fred Grant went through the Law with older brother and ngalungku (contemporary initiate), Ned Grant, in the ranges north of Laverton, after being brought in to the Cundeelee Mission. With his extraordinary knowledge of Spinifex Tjukurpa and its myriad of inherent songlines, Fred has taken on the role of director on most of the men’s collaboratives.

Although his own works are locality specific, they give the impression of covering broad swathes of country, and could be interpreted as subtler versions of the Men’s Native Title Paintings in 1997. Fred’s wife, Carlene West, from Tjitjiti, is also a renowned painter of Spinifex Arts Project.

Ned GRANT Birth Date circa 1941 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Papatatjara Pitjantjatjara Skin/Clan

Ned Grant went through the Law his brother, Fred Grant, in the ranges north of Laverton, after being brought in to the Cundeelee Mission. As a senior man in early 1980’s, he helped coordinate the return to Spinifex country and today, he is the main ceremonial leader of the Tjintu (sun side) of Spinifex society. Ned has been painting with the Spinifex Art Project since its beginning in 1997 and had worked on the inaugural Men’s Native Title Painting. Ned has not been a prolific individual painter but he has been an integral contributor to various men’s collaborative paintings.

Timo HOGAN Birth Date 02/05/1973 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Kalgoorlie Skin/Clan Pitjantjatjara

Timo grew up with stories of life in the Spinifex Lands. His mother and family dug themselves into the sand dunes to try to avoid the smoke from the Maralinga atomic bomb. He spent his formative years with his father, Neville McCarthur. They lived at Mt Margaret until Timo was about 14 when the family moved to Warburton, closer to his father’s traditional lands.

He did his first canvas, a painting of the Lake Baker with Ninuku Artists in 2004. After a long break of nearly 10 years he has started painting again.

Painting his country, the vast salt lake, the place he now has cultural obligations to look after.

Ivy LAIDLAW Birth Date 1945 Language Ngaanyatjarra Place of Birth Walpapulka Ngaanyatjara Skin/Clan

Ivy Laidlaw, a Ngaanyatjarra artist, was born around 1945 at a rockhole called Walpapulka (Mt. Aloysius) near Irrunytju. Ivy was a founding member of Irrunytju Arts and is a highly regarded sculpture, weaver and storyteller.

Ivy is currently living in Tjuntjuntjara Community with her husband Patju Presley who is family to the Spinifex mob.

Dora PARKER Birth Date 06/07/1962 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Fregon Skin/Clan Tjuntjuntjara

Dora was born in the clinic at Fregon Community when people were still born ‘on country’. Her family were living in Fregon due to the available work and close proximity to Ernabella Mission. Dora’s family had travelled over 300 kilometres from the east, country close to Irrunytju, in Western Australia. She has a paternal connection to the significant site of Pukara a major Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa through her father. Dora paints the ‘seven sisters’ site of Pur-Pur in the north of traditional Spinifex Lands. Today, she is a part time employee and board member of the Spinifex Arts Project.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Birth Date circa 1934 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Urlu Pitjantjatjara Skin/Clan

Like his contemporaries, Lawrence Pennington was pulled in to the Cundeelee Mission in the late 1950s.

His initiations as a young man in the country have given him intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence started painting with the Spinifex Arts Project in 1999, collaboratively and individually, before leaving Tjuntjuntjara for about 7 years. He has now returned on a permanent basis when his only son went through Men’s Law at Tjuntjuntjara.

Myrtle PENNINGTON Birth Date circa 1939 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Kanpa Skin/Clan Pitjantjatjara

Myrtle Pennington’s journey to Cundeelee Mission in the late 1950’s was particularly tragic - a son and her husband had perished during the trip. Myrtle, with another son and daughter, were eventually located by Australian servicemen and taken to the Cundeelee Mission. Even though Myrtle did not work on the Women’s Native Title Painting in 1997, she gradually came into the Spinifex Arts Project through the women’s collaborative works. She was mostly an occasional painter until the past decade when almost overnight she developed a most striking, minimal style with bold symbols that leap out against a vividly plain background.

Ian RICTOR Birth Date circa 1960 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Artulin / Tuwan Pitjantjatjara Skin/Clan

Ian Rictor and his family emerged from the bush only in 1986, the last of the known Indigenous people to make first contact with contemporary Australia.

In 1997, when the Spinifex Arts Project began, Ian Rictor was keen to join. He took to the medium of paint on canvas with fluency and has been painting his birthplace and surrounding country since then.

He has had increasing success exhibiting with the Spinifex Artists internationally and in Australia.

Ian is also a skilled hunter, bush mechanic and craftsman. He lives in Tjuntjuntjara with his wife Kathleen (Kanta) Donnegan, also an artist of Spinifex Arts Project.

Ngalpingka SIMMS circa 1945 Birth Date Language Ngaanyatjarra Place of Birth Wayiyul Skin/Clan Ngaanyatjarra

Ngalpingka Simms spent her early days living a traditional lifestyle with her small family group and later moved into the Warburton Mission where many Ngaanyatjarra people settled. She spent many years at Warburton living a semi-nomadic lifestyle and participating in traditional ceremony. Now living at Tjuntjuntjara and married to Spinifex elder Lennard Walker, Ngalpingka paints with the Spinifex Arts Project. She has participated with the Spinifex Artists since 1998 and is a valuable and knowledgeable member of the group who paints her homeland area associated with the Minyma Tjuta (Seven Sisters) as well as collaborative paintings.

Tracey SIMMS Birth Date 13/07/1965 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Leonora Tjuntjuntjara Skin/Clan

Tracey Simms mother, Ngalpingka Simms, made the long trek to Leonora Hospital, north of Kalgoorlie, to give birth to Tracey. Ngalpingka became very ill after the birth and Tracey was fostered out for her first years with a family living in Perth and consequently started her life with English as her first language.

Tracey’s tells of her father and grandfather being hard workers and respected by Mission staff, enough that they were the two who were sent to search for the last Ngaanyatjarra family group to have contact with the western world.The Ward family were escorted in but were immediately asked by film makers associated with the Western Australian Museum to return to their way of life for the purpose of documentation. The consequent film has become a national treasure.. Tracey is now employed with Spinifex Arts Project as a translator among other duties and is also an artist in her own right.

Roy UNDERWOOD circa 1937 Birth Date Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Tjutajara Skin/Clan Pitjantjatjara

With Kumanara Anderson and other senior men and women, Roy Underwood was a major driving force in returning the Spinifex people to their country and representing and negotiating the unbroken connection to country. Roy continues to be a venerated Elder and is routinely elected to Spinifex Land Council and Tjuntjuntjara Community Council. Roy has a unique painting style somewhat reminiscent of Kiwirkurra mens’ designs from Pintupi country and has influenced other artists with his bold and sometimes geometric designs. He is a strong force within the Spinifex Arts Project and a much sought-after painter.

Lennard WALKER Birth Date circa 1946 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Tjukaltjara /

Kuru Ala Skin/Clan Pitjantjatjara

Unlike most artists who were born in country, Lennard Walker moved out of Spinifex with his extended family to the Warburton Mission, established in 1934. He later married Ngalpinkga Simms, also an artist of Spinifex Arts Project and together they settled in Tjuntjuntjara. Lennard painted on the inaugural Men’s Native Title Painting in 1997. He has also worked on most men’s collaboratives, joint works with other male painters and his wife Ngalpingka. In style and form, Lennard continues from where he began, a ruggedly strong and resolute painter - the image of his country.

MANGKAJA ARTS

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Yangkunja Hill Drawing on Metal/Acrylic Paint Spray 120 x 120cm 248/18

This is the top hill, the top side has caves there, rock holes. Its an old cliff, little kangaroos live on that cliff and in those caves. People were climbing up into those cliffs looking for those boogie men. Sometimes they find him, sometimes they can’t. That bottom half is the water, coming down those hills. In a dreamtime story they fall over the jiljis below, little short jiljis near a camping place on that side.

This place is half way to Kurtal, not too far from here, across from Kaningarri, Walmajarri country, close up to here (Fitzroy Crossing). This is the Red Hill too, not the black soil. Its desert country.

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Yangkunja Hill Etching on Metal/Enamel Spray Paint 90 x 120cm 75/19

This is the top hill, the top side has caves there, rock holes. Its an old cliff, little kangaroos live on that cliff and in those caves. People were climbing up into those cliffs looking for those boogie men. Sometimes they find him, sometimes they can’t. That bottom half is the water, coming down those hills. In a dreamtime story they fall over the jiljis below, little short jiljis near a camping place on that side.

This place is half way to Kurtal, not too far from here, across from Kaningarri, Walmajarri country, close up to here (Fitzroy Crossing). This is the Red Hill too, not the black soil. Its desert country.

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Flat Country and Hills Etching on Metal/Enamel Spray Paint 90 x 90cm 312/19

This painting is about two hills and flat country in the middle, this way in the desert my country I used to go hunting and walkabout with my mum and dad when I was a little boy with my brother.

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Kulparti Soakwater Acrylic Paint and Etching on Metal/Enamel Spray 60 x 60cm 447/18

This is the clay pan, near to Kurtal. Its also called Helena Springs, a well on the Canning Stock Route. My brother was born here. �This one Kulparti soakwater, desert place, my granny place. My granny she pass away right there.�

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Jilji and Bila Etching on Metal/Acrylic Spray Paint 60 x 60cm 286/19

This is the sandhill country, jilji, on and on they go. In between the jilji, that is called bila, flat country. The jilji can be close, or the bila might be really wide, a few hundred metres. Someone might have burnt that country before. You burn it, and its easier to catch a feed like lizard, and the bush turkeys fly in from everywhere to eat the exposed insects. Bush turkey, that’s good tucker! After fire, grasses grow back and the trees regenerate. We travel in this country, wurna juwal, always travelling from place to place! As you move through country, the type of trees and grasses change, and that determines what you will find, in terms of foods and medicine, or other plants we don’t use. At different times of the year you’ll find beautiful fields of flowers too. On cool mornings you can suck out the nectar of some flowers, before the birds do.

Desert oaks are best for shade, they grow together in big numbers, but you don’t find them everywhere.

This is an easy story, this is not a story about law. I can tell you.

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Yangkunja Hill Etching on Metal/Enamel Spray Paint 50 x 50cm 289/19

This is the top hill, the top side has caves there, rock holes. Its an old cliff, little kangaroos live on that cliff and in those caves. People were climbing up into those cliffs looking for those boogie men. Sometimes they find him, sometimes they can’t. That bottom half is the water, coming down those hills. In a dreamtime story they fall over the jiljis below, little short jiljis near a camping place on that side.

This place is half way to Kurtal, not too far from here, across from Kaningarri, Walmajarri country, close up to here (Fitzroy Crossing). This is the Red Hill too, not the black soil. It’s desert country.

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Jilji and Bila Etching on Metal/Enamel Spray Paint 50 x 50cm 310/19

This is the sandhill country, jilji, on and on they go. In between the jilji, that is called bila, flat country. The jilji can be close, or the bila might be really wide, a few hundred metres. Someone might have burnt that country before. You burn it, and its easier to catch a feed like lizard, and the bush turkeys fly in from everywhere to eat the exposed insects. Bush turkey, that’s good tucker! After fire, grasses grow back and the trees regenerate. We travel in this country, wurna juwal, always travelling from place to place! As you move through country, the type of trees and grasses change, and that determines what you will find, in terms of foods and medicine, or other plants we don’t use. At different times of the year you’ll find beautiful fields of flowers too. On cool mornings you can suck out the nectar of some flowers, before the birds do.

Desert oaks are best for shade, they grow together in big numbers, but you don’t find them everywhere.

This is an easy story, this is not a story about law. I can tell you.

Tjukurpa relating to Martuwarra Sonia was born by a billlabong at Noonkanbah community. Her parents were Walmajarri whose movements led them to live by the Fitzroy River. Sonia has lived most her life at Noonkanbah. A compulsive artist, Sonia for a long time was a teacher’s aide at the local school where she facilitated art making with the children.

Illustrative of her attachment to the country where she grew up, an intimate life with the river, Sonia’s art is a saturation of river country motifs, be it parlka (barramundi), brim, tortoise, stingray, pandanus trees or the water itself.

“Martuwarra is my river country; this painting is all about the Fitzroy River which flows down through Noonkanbah where I live. All kinds of fish live in the water, we catch big mob of fish here. I like Parlka (barramundi). We catch catfish and brim here too. Nganku(shark), Wirritunany (swordfish) and Stingray also live here. These fish live in these waters long after the flood has gone. Also, this painting is about barramundi swimming on the surface of the water, you can also see the Wakiri (pandanus tree) and rocks all around. When the barramundi get tired they go back into the rock holes. These rock holes hold all the Parlka (barrumundi) that live in the river. Kalpurtu (creator serpent type being) also live in these rock holes and swim all around the Palma (creeks) and all around the Wakiri that grows in the river.”

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 95 x 180cm 186/19

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 120 x 90cm 270/19

WORKS ON POLY-CARBONATE

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 90 x 90cm 335/18

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 60 x 120cm 451/18

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 60 x 120cm 452/18

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 60 x 120cm 156/17 (Exhibited at TARNANTHI 2017 (AGSA)

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 60 x 120cm 41/17 Exhibited at TARNANTHI 2017 (AGSA)

WORKS ON PAPER

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Graphite and Paint, 250gsm Velin Arches 56 x 76cm 1/16

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Atelier Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches 76 x 56cm 397/16

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Coloured Pencil, 250gsm Velin Arches 76 x 56cm 2-16

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Atelier Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches 76 x 56cm 400/16

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Charcoal on 250gsm Velin Arches 55.5 x 75.5cm 294/15

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Atelier Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches 76 x 56cm 402/16

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Atelier Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches 76 x 56cm 393/16

Sonia KURARRA Martuwarra Atelier Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches 76 x 56cm 419/16

Daisy JAPULIJA Karnanganyia Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 90 x 90cm 455/18

“(Urutt)� They called soak water my country. Where I grew up theres a lot of living water all around. The orange represent sandhill (jilji) and the green is flowers all around the waterholes Karnanganyja.

Daisy JAPULIJA Billabongs Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 60 x 120cm 150/17

Daisy is a descendent of the Walmajarri who moved north from the desert in the first half of the last century, her parents settling at Noonkoonbah. Daisy was born there by the banks of the Fitzroy River. She lived there with her husband, and at Ngalingkadji.

Daisy now lives at Guwardi Ngardu aged care,

with her sister Sonia. Her paintings display an array of motifs associated with the river and floodwater billabongs integral the landscape and culture of the Fitzroy valley.

Daisy JAPULIJA Billabongs Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 60 x 120cm 42/17

Daisy is a descendent of the Walmajarri who moved north from the desert in the first half of the last century, her parents settling at Noonkoonbah. Daisy was born there by the banks of the Fitzroy River. She lived there with her husband, and at Ngalingkadji.

Daisy now lives at Guwardi Ngardu aged care,

with her sister Sonia. Her paintings display an array of motifs associated with the river and floodwater billabongs integral the landscape and culture of the Fitzroy valley.

Daisy JAPULIJA My Country Acrylic Paint on 3mm Poly-Carbonate 60 x 120cm 454/18

This painting is in my country with sand hills clay pads that’s salt lake ( pirnti lakes ) grass and trees thats grow out in the bush.

Eva NARGOODAH Lakarrara Atelier acrylic paint on 14oz canvas 180 x 95cm 71-19

This is a grass bearing edible seeds that ants collect and put around their nests. My Grandmother and I used to go and collect the seeds from the nests with a cooleman (Wooden bowl). Then we used the cooleman to separate the seeds from the grass. We ground the seeds with a grinding stone to make flour and then add water to make a

paste. We cook it with two pieces of bark in the hot sand, buried like an oven. This makes a damper or cake, like a brown bread with seeds. A lot of kids grew up eating this.

Daisy JAPULIJA Birth Date circa 1948 Language Nyikina / Walmajarri Place of Birth Noonkanbah Nampiyinti Skin/Clan

Daisy Japulija was born near Noonkanbah under a Konkerberry tree. She grew up there and worked in the station kitchen until she married her husband.

Together, they left, travelling around the country and ended up at Cherrabun Station.

She started painting at the Noonkanbah shearing shed and then in the old Mangkaja shed a long time ago. She initially painted with Yakanara Adult Education Centre, whose main emphasis was the teaching of children, instruction in language and culture. Those attending were also taken on excursions to the local waterholes and rivers.

Daisy’s art is an incorporation of motifs and memories of a life lived by the river and billabongs of the Fitzroy Valley.

Sonia KURARRA Birth Date circa 1952 Language Walmajarri Place of Birth Noonkanbah Skin/Clan Nampiyinti

Sonia Kurarra grew up in the river country at Yungngora (Noonkanbah), where she helped the kindergarten teacher with teaching art. Sonia began painting at Mangkaja in the early 1990s, working mostly on paper. As her career and confidence grew, she started to practice and develop her skills moving into more ambitious and complex works on canvas and since 2008, Sonia has been working predominantly on canvas.

Sonia paints the sandy billabong country along the stretch of the Fitzroy River that runs directly behind the community. After the flood waters recede, there are billabongs that hold a plentiful supply of parlka (barramundi), kurlumajarti (catfish) and bream. She paints gapi (fish), parrmarr (rocks) where the fish is cooked, ngurti (coolamon) and a karli (boomerang).

Ngarralja Tommy MAY Birth Date circa 1935 Language Wangkajunga / Walmajarri Place of Birth Yarrnkurnja Jungkurra Skin/Clan

Ngarralja is a Wangkajunga/Walmajarri man, born at Yarrnkurnja in the Great Sandy Desert. He dances and sings Kurtal, a ceremony relating to the main jila (living waterhole) in his country. He is also a painter and printmaker. Ngarralja is fluent in Wangkajunga, Walmajarri and English and writes Walmajarri. He is a founding member of the Karrayili Adult Education centre where he learnt to read and write his own language and English.

Ngarralja holds an important role for art and culture in Fitzroy Crossing. He is a former Deputy Chairman of Mangkaja Arts and former Chairman of Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Cultural Centre (KALACC) and the Association of Northern Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists (ANKAAA). Ngarralja was also an executive for 21 years on the ANKAAA Board of Directors.

Eva NARGOODAH Birth Date 20/01/1958 Language Walmajarri/ Wangkajunga/ Gooniyandi Place of Birth Christmas Creek Skin/Clan Nakamarra

Eva Nargoodah was born in 1958 at Christmas Creek.

The family later moved to GoGo Station where Eva’s great-grandmother lived. Subsequently they shifted to Cherrabun Station where Eva went to school in 1965 Eva spent her next few years at school in Derby and worked as a teacher. In 1984 Eva got married and now she has 9 children and over 20 grandchildren.

Eva only started painting after her children grew up. She paints her grandmother’s country and what she was taught. Eva also paints her style of seasons, bush tucker paintings and her childhood memories of winter rains and cold weather. Today Eva lives with her large family in the Jimbalakudunj Community, 120km southwest of Fitzroy Crossing.

MIMILI MAKU ARTS

Ngupulya PUMANI Antara Acrylic on Linen 250 x 200cm 108-18

Ngupulya Pumani paints Antara, an extremely important site for Ngupulya and her family.

Antara is Ngupulya’s mother’s country. This place, and its significant Maku (witchetty grub) Tjukurpa were a constant in the paintings of the late Milatjari Pumani. Today Ngupulya and her younger sister Betty Kuntiwa Pumani are proud custodians of this country; they map its significance and hold its stories strong in their paintings of Antara.

“Antara is my mother’s country. She taught me the stories, and showed me the places, like one special rockhole where women would have inma (ceremony). Now I remember her when I paint Antara.”

Tuppy NGINTJA GOODWIN Antara Acrylic on Linen 152 x 122cm 243-19

When I paint, it’s like inma (ceremonial dance and song).

This is Antara, a sacred place for Anangu, and the Maku Tjukurpa (witchetty grub story).

There is a special rock hole at Antara where women perform inma – ‘inmaku pakani’ – and afterwards there is enough Maku to feed everyone. Antara and Maku Tjukurpa is really important for Mimili women, we paint this place and its stories, keeping them strong.

Tuppy NGINTJA GOODWIN Antara Acrylic on Linen 152 x 122cm 296-19

When I paint, it’s like inma (ceremonial dance and song).

This is Antara, a sacred place for Anangu, and the Maku Tjukurpa (witchetty grub story).

There is a special rock hole at Antara where women perform inma – ‘inmaku pakani’ – and afterwards there is enough Maku to feed everyone. Antara and Maku Tjukurpa is really important for Mimili women, we paint this place and its stories, keeping them strong.

Judy MARTIN Ngayuku MaMaku Ngura (My Father’s Country) Acrylic on Linen 122 x 152cm 70-19

Judy paints her father’s country, Wakura. Wakura is near Nyapari, on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in remote North-Western South Australia.

Even though Judy lives in Mimili Community now, she is still a custodian of the land around Wakura. Her focus lies on the importance of the water sources in the area, which have been guarded and cared for by her father’s family since the beginning of time. Judy maps the kapi tjukula amongst the puli (mountain ranges) and tali (sand hills) of Wakura.

Judy MARTIN Ngayuku MaMaku Ngura (My Father’s Country) Acrylic on Linen 122 x 122cm 347-19

Judy paints her father’s country, Wakura. Wakura is near Nyapari, on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in remote North-Western South Australia.

Even though Judy lives in Mimili Community now, she is still a custodian of the land around Wakura. Her focus lies on the importance of the water sources in the area, which have been guarded and cared for by her father’s family since the beginning of time. Judy maps the kapi tjukula amongst the puli (mountain ranges) and tali (sand hills) of Wakura.

Tuppy NGINTJA GOODWIN Birth Date 1952 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Bumbali Creek /

Palmer Creek

Tuppy is a senior Pitjantjatjara artist committed to passing on her cultural knowledge to the next generation of Anangu. Tuppy was born in the bush near Bumbali Creek. She moved to Mimili with her family at a young age. At the time Mimili was called Everard Park. It was a cattle station, which was returned to Aboriginal ownership through the 1981 Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act. Tuppy was a pre-school teacher for thirty years and since the foundation of the art centre in 2009 she has been painting at Mimili Maku Arts, capturing the stories given to her through her heritage in a dynamic and intuitive way. As the chairperson of Mimili Maku Arts, Tuppy has represented her art centre on multiple Her paintings have been exhibited globally and she was first shortlisted for the NATSIAAs in 2018.

Judy MARTIN Birth Date 1963 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Ngatunitja,

APY Lands

Judy Martin is a senior Pitjantjatjara artist living and working in Mimili Community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in northwest South Australia.

Her father was Pompey Everard and his country was Wakura, near Nyapari in the west. Her mother was Molly Pompey, whose country was Puntiri near Sandy Bore, 30kms south of Mimili. Judy spent her youth traveling between communities, and getting to know country intimately. As a young woman, Judy became a Ngangkari (traditional healer), a practice she maintains until today. Judy draws her inspiration from a wealth of cultural knowledge, connecting two geographically far removed locations in her paintings.

Judy is known for her bold visual language, and the deep joy for storytelling she brings to her community.

Ngupulya PUMANI Birth Date 1946 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Mimili

Born in Mimili, Ngupulya learnt about the importance of female leadership and Anangu culture from her mother Milatjari Pumani, who was one of the founders of Mimili Maku Arts.

As the eldest of five siblings, Ngupulya has been a regional leader for a long time, speaking up strongly for Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people across the lands. Ngupulya has led Mimili Maku Arts as a chairperson for a number of years, ensuring sustainable organisation growth, community wellbeing and artistic excellence.

Today, as Mimili Maku’s most senior painter, Ngupulya celebrates Anangu knowledge every day – on and off the canvas, maintaining the cultural authority for Antara, and the Maku (witchetty grub) Tjukurpa. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and has been recognised in a number of painting prizes within Australia.

TJUNGU PALYA ARTS

Watarru Artists (COLLABORATIVE) Ilpili Synthetic Polymer on Linen 150 x 300cm 18-126

This is the creation story for Ilpili about the Two Sister creation beings. The women were hiding in Tjukulas (rockholes) and one Wati (man) was searching for them but he could not see them. The younger sister was pregnant. Her older sister was looking after her.

As they hid in a cave at the base of the hill the man climbed up high to look for them called out “Yaltji, minyma Kutjara?�(where are you two women)?

Ginger WIKILYIRI Kunamata Synthetic Polymer on Linen 120 x 200cm 11351

Kunamata, this is my ngura (homeland). There is karu pulka (big creek) that runs from the apu (rocky hills).

Itjulu is on the other side and apu tjuta (rocky hills) everywhere with different manta (ground) and different punu (trees). The snake is panakura (desert death adder). Each day he ventures out to the cave and paint sacred designs on the cave walls, before returning home again. His home is in the sand hills close to Kunamata.

Angkaliya CURTIS Cave Hill Synthetic Polymer on Linen 120 x 200cm 15-500

Ngayuku mitaku ngurangka (this is my country from my husband) a place called Cave Hill. There are many animals living in this desert country and their tracks are everywhere. There is a lot of water here too, it’s a precious place. My husband Billynya and I travelled on a camel from the mission in Ernabella to Cave Hill.

Iyawi WIKILYIRI Ngura Ngarutjara Acrylic on Linen 200 x 120cm 13408

Ngura Ngarutjara, a place near Ernabella. Tjukula tjuta (many waterholes), this is the Wanampi’s ngura (water-snake’s home). They are dangerous snakes; you can’t go near the Wanampi. There is a male and female Wanampi. The Wanampi have water all around them, always surrounded by water. There’s a big punu (tree) near the water, the roots go right into the water. There’s another tree nearby. This tree is for the women to make the wana (digging stick) for getting goanna and rabbit and other foods.

Angkaliya CURTIS Birth Date circa 1928 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Miti Pitjantjatjara Skin/Clan

When Angkaliya was small she travelled with her mother to Watarru (her mother’s country). The family spent time at Ernabella mission and cattle station properties exchanging animal skins (dingoes and rabbits) for flour and sugar. She married and lived at Ernabella where she worked in the craft room spinning wool and making rugs. Art and craft are still important to Angkaliya and she maintains prolific weaving, artefact production and painting practices. Her camp is scattered with discarded raffia and spinifex from the tjanpi baskets she makes in the evening and during weekends.

The confident underdrawings in her paintings maintain a distinct sense of knowledge and cultural integrity and act as an armature off which she hangs beautiful tracts of colour blended together with her signature painterly marks.

Ginger WIKILYIRI Birth Date circa 1930 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Kunamata Skin/Clan Pitjantjatjara

Ginger Wikilyiri was born at Kunamata, a rock hole south of Nyapari in 1930. His father had three wives.

Wingu Tingima is the daughter of the first wife and Ginger the son of the second. Ginger is a senior law man and has cultural responsibilities for both Kunumata and Piltati.

His passion for land management and horticulture has taken him to Israel where he learnt about arid land techniques and to Mutitjulu community, where he worked for many years as a ranger for the UluruKata Tjuta National Park. Ginger’s marvellously expressive and vibrantly coloured works embody a wealth of traditional knowledge. His works feature in major public institutions and private collections both locally and internationally.

Iyawi WIKILYIRI Birth Date 01/01/1945 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth near Ernabella Pitjantjatjara Skin/Clan

Iyawi was born in the bush near Ernabella in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands c1945.

She attended the mission school at Ernabella before finding employment in the craft room, where traditional spinning skills were combined with new techniques to develop a small scale carpet making industry.

Iyawi’s mother was a Yankunytjatjara women from Ernabella and he father was a Pitjantjatjara man from Pukara. Iyawi lived in Nyapari with her husband Ginger Wikilyiri. Iyawi Wikilyiri paints Pukara, an important Tjukurpa for Wati Kutjara, the two serpent men. These wanampi’s are involved in creating landmarks across vast tracts of the desert from Pukara in the tri state border region of Western Australia. South Australia and the Northern Territory to the Western Australian coast .

MUNUPI ARTS

Alison PURUNTATAMERI Winga (Tidal Movement/Waves) Ochre on Canvas 180 x 150cm 19-326

This work depicts the tidal movement of waters in and around the seas and creeks of the Tiwi Islands.

Not just influencing fishing and hunting opportunities, the movement of water carries masses of silt and sand, transforming the land and changing the coastal landscape. Winga can also be translated as ‘waves’, just one part of the changing tides. Tidal surges are at their most powerful when a king tide occurs during the Wet Season, especially during a full moon. Cornelia has a strong bond to the waters surrounding the Tiwi Islands, forged by a lifetime of memories living encircled within the tides of the Arafura Sea.

Alison PURUNTATAMERI Winga (Tidal Movement/Waves) Ochre on Canvas 180 x 120cm 19-329

This work depicts the tidal movement of waters in and around the seas and creeks of the Tiwi Islands. Not just influencing fishing and hunting opportunities, the movement of water carries masses of silt and sand, transforming the land and changing the coastal landscape. Winga can also be translated as ‘waves’, just one part of the changing tides.

Tidal surges are at their most powerful when a king tide occurs during the Wet Season, especially during a full moon. Cornelia has a strong bond to the waters surrounding the Tiwi Islands, forged by a lifetime of memories living encircled within the tides of the Arafura Sea.

Alison PURUNTATAMERI Winga (Tidal Movement/Waves) Ochre on Canvas 100 x 100cm 19-315

This work depicts the tidal movement of waters in and around the seas and creeks of the Tiwi Islands.

Not just influencing fishing and hunting opportunities, the movement of water carries masses of silt and sand, transforming the land and changing the coastal landscape. Winga can also be translated as ‘waves’, just one part of the changing tides. Tidal surges are at their most powerful when a king tide occurs during the Wet Season, especially during a full moon. Cornelia has a strong bond to the waters surrounding the Tiwi Islands, forged by a lifetime of memories living encircled within the tides of the Arafura Sea.

Cornelia TIPUAMANTUMIRRI Rokini Ochre on Linen 100 x 100cm 13-392

Along the beaches of Melville Island purple flowers bloom bright and beautiful; distinguished by its eyecatching flowers.

Rokini vine is revered not only for its beauty but also for its medicinal and healing properties. The plant is particularly useful in treating a variety of skin-related ailments such as scabies, irritation and itchiness.

Delores TIPUAMANTUMIRRI Banapa Ochre on Linen 150 x 180cm 19-331

Banapa is the Tiwi word for net. Throw nets are commonly and expertly used for fishing off the beach.

The shapes and forms these fish nets create whilst being cast translate into wonderful pictorial patterns.

Marie Simplicia TIPUAMANTUMIRRI Pupuni Jilamara Ochre on Canvas 180 x 120cm 16-116

During ceremony on the Tiwi Islands a series of ‘yoi’ (dances), are performed; some are totemic (inherited from the person’s Mother) and some serve to act out the narrative of newly composed songs. Participants in these ceremonies are painted with turtiyanginari (the different natural ochre colours) in varying designs, transforming the dancers and, in some cases, providing protection against recognition by mapurtiti (spirits). These designs can be applied in different ways, one of which is using the finger, or in this case a brush.

Painting of the face also occurs. These significant artistic designs collectively are called ‘Jilamara’.

Alison PURUNTATAMERI Birth Date 25/11/1984 Language Tiwi Place of Birth Bathurst Island Skin/Clan Takaringuwi

(Scaly Mullet)

Alison grew up in Pirlangimpi Commumnity on Melville Island. She went to the local school and worked in child care. She has one daughter, Anette Orsto known locally as Sugar Plum who is a great favourite at the art centre studio where Alison paints with her mother Paulina (Jedda) sharing the care of Sugar while one or the other paints. It was Alison’s grandfather, Justin Puruntatameri (dec) a senior law man that knew all the songs and remembered visits by the Macassans as a boy that told Alison she should have a go at painting - she would listen to his stories of his paintings at the art centre and in the village. He used to take the family hunting when she was little. Alison started painting with Munupi Arts in late 2011. She was also one of the few australian Cotemporary artist under 30 selected for the 2014 “primavera” show at the MCA.

Cornelia TIPUAMANTUMIRRI Birth Date 31/12/1929 Language Tiwi Place of Birth Pirlangimipi,

Melville Island Skin/Clan Warntarringa (Sun)

Cornelia Tipuamantumirri was born adjacent to the present-day barge landing at Pirlangimipi, around 1930. When she was a young woman she would assist young weavers to acquire skill and knowledge in this art form. She would also teach the young ones traditional Tiwi dance.

Cornelia Tipuamantumirri married Steven Tipuamantamirri as a young lady and has one child, a daughter, Delores.

Cornelia uses the kayimwagakimi for her work, dipping the comb shaped carved ironwood into her ochre palette; shades of pinks and yellows to portray the reflections of her long life lived on the Tiwi Islands. Reflections also, of the skies’ lights on the surface of the Arafura Sea.

Delores TIPUAMANTUMIRRI Birth Date 28/02/1959 Language Tiwi Place of Birth Bathurst Island Warntarringa (Sun) Skin/Clan

Delores Tipuamantumirri is the only child of the respected elders Cornelia and Steven Tipuamantumirri. She lives in Pirlamgimpi, Melville Island. Delores has a stepbrother, adopted by her parents after he was brought to the Tiwi Islands during the Stolen Generation of the 1960’s from Peppimenarti. It was through Cornelia that she acquired weaving, dancing and hunting skills. Now, Delores is passing on these skills to her three children and nine grandchildren.

Prior to joining Munupi Art in 2008, she worked at the Women’s centre and Aged Care in Pirlangimpi.

She uses the traditional Tiwi comb for her painting, applying natural ochre tones to linen, creating a moving ripple effect suggesting a thrown fishing net.

Marie Simplicia TIPUAMANTUMIRRI Birth Date 10/01/1959 Language Tiwi Place of Birth Bathurst Island Skin/Clan Takaringuwi

(Scaly Mullet)

I was born in Bathurst Hospital run by the Catholic Mission and went to St Theresa School in Wurrimiyanga and then St John College in Darwin.

After school I became a bilingual assistant teacher, literacy worker and translator. I moved to Pirlangimpi with my husband and 3 children a long time ago. I have worked with the Art Centre for many years while teaching and doing other jobs in the Community.

SPINIFEX HILLS ARTS

Gloria Untitled Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 122 x 122cm 18-1110

Gloria Untitled Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 76 x 101.5cm 18-787

Gloria Untitled Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 76 x 101.5cm 18-1109

Doreen CHAPMAN Untitled Acrylic on Canvas 122 x 122cm 17-131

Doreen CHAPMAN Untitled Acrylic on Canvas 76 x 76cm 19-765

Gloria Birth Date 29/05/1975 Language Place of Birth Jigalong Martu Skin/Clan

Born in Jigalong in 1975, Gloria is a Martu painter within a powerful matriarchal tradition that emerged in the Western Desert in the early 2000s, largely through the establishment of Martumili Artists. Her loose brushwork and pastel palettes have drawn critical attention for their highly affecting presence.

Gloria paints one day a week at Spinifex Hill Studios in South Hedland. She effortlessly moves her paintbrush all around and over the canvas with smiles that light up the room and everyone in it.

Doreen CHAPMAN Birth Date 1971 Language Manjilyajarra Place of Birth Jigalong Skin/Clan Karimarra

Doreen was born in Jigalong in 1971 and has spent her life moving between Western Desert communities in the Pilbara, Western Australia. She is a Manyjilyjarra artist and has spent the majority of her adult life in Warralong, a community 120km south-east of Port Hedland. She started painting with her mother, Maywokka May Chapman, and she first exhibited with Martumili artists in 2010.

In recent years she has spent more time in Port Hedland and began painting at the Spinifex Hill Studios. As a deaf woman, painting is a crucial medium of communication and storytelling.

WARLAYIRTI ARTS

Christine YUKENBARRI Winpurpurla Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 100cm 404-18

Christine has painted some of her mother’s country south of Balgo, in the Great Sandy Desert. This country is named Winpurpurla after the tjurnnu (soakwater) depicted as the central circle in the painting. Winpurpurla is an inta, or ’living water’ place so it always has good water. Women often travel to Winpurpurla to collect a variety of seeds including lukarrari which is ground to make damper and kumpupatja (bush tomato). The definite lines in the painting represent the tali (sandhills) that dominate this country.

Christine YUKENBARRI Winpurpurla Acrylic on Linen 75 x 50cm 574-18

Christine has painted some of her mother’s country south of Balgo, in the Great Sandy Desert. This country is named Winpurpurla after the tjurnnu (soakwater) depicted as the central circle in the painting. Winpurpurla is an inta, or ‘living water’ place so it always has good water. Women often travel to Winpurpurla to collect a variety of seeds including lukarrari which is ground to make damper and kumpupatja (bush tomato). The definite lines in the painting represent the tali (sandhills) that dominate this country.

Helicopter TJUNGURRAYI Wangkartu Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 75cm 226-19

Helicopter has depicted his traditional country, located far to the south west of Balgo, in the Great Sandy Desert. This country is near Nynmi and is known as Wangkartu, named for the tjurrnu (soakwater) which was the life source for Helicopter when he was a young man travelling and hunting across the land with his family.

Helicopter can recall all the water sources of his traditional lands, they were the life source for him and his family. From top to bottom of this painting the names of the rockholes are; Ngupuwarlu, Kurinypa, Nyarntu, Nguny-Ngunypa, Kilinypa, Milinypa, Tarltu, Yintaramalu and Kukulyurrpa. The many parallel lines in the painting represent the tali (sand dunes) which dominate the landscape of the area.

Helicopter TJUNGURRAYI Wangkartu Acrylic on Linen 150 x 75cm 513-19

Helicopter has depicted his traditional country, located far to the south west of Balgo, in the Great Sandy Desert. This country is near Nynmi and is known as Wangkartu, named for the tjurrnu (soakwater) which was the life source for Helicopter when he was a young man travelling and hunting across the land with his family.

The blue lines running through the painting represent kiliki (creeks) and the many parallel lines in the painting represent the tali (sand dunes) which dominate the landscape of the area.

Brian MUDGEDELL Tjintjintjin Acrylic on Linen 150 x 100cm 558-19

In this painting Brian tells of the old woman Kutungka Napanangka travels from the west. During her journey, she visits Yaranga, Ngatanga and the soakage water site of Tjintjintjin, which is west of Mantati outstation, 70km west of Kintore. As illustrated the lines represent the sand hills in the area and the squares represent the soakage water.

This unique painting quintessentially tells of history and journey.

Brian MUDGEDELL Birth Date 22/02/1971 Language Walmajarri, Kukatja Place of Birth Paruku Tjakamarra Skin/Clan

Brian is the son of senior law woman Mati Mudgedell (deceased). Brian moved between the communities of Balgo and Mulan as a young boy. He has fond memories of hunting south of Mulan at Paruku with his mother and brother. In the Lake of Paruku lives the cheeky (dangerous) snake, Waniara, who would eat people during the Tjukurrpa. Brian speaks of being cautious when approaching the lake. In Balgo Brian attended The Luurnpa Catholic School and traveled to Melbourne and Adelaide on special excursions. Brian is married with three children and also enjoys being a member of a local band that toured to Perth. Brian started painting in 1992 and explains how he continues the legacy learnt from his grandmother. He has inherited her stories, which encompasses country south west of Balgo in the Great Sandy Desert.

Helicopter TJUNGURRAYI Birth Date Helicopter was born with blackhead snake circa 1947 Language Manyjilyjarra, Kukatja, Dreaming at Nyakin, south of Jupiter Well. He fell Wangkajungka ill near Natawalu (Well 40) in 1957 and was flown by helicopter to Balgo. He is a respected maparn Place of Birth Puntujalpa (traditional healer) and is one of Warlayirti Artists’

(Jupiter Well) Skin/Clan Tjungurrayi leading artists, as well as being an active Law man.

He paints the country where he was born; his father’s and grandfather’s country in the Great Sandy Desert/Gibson Desert area. Helicopter has travelled interstate and overseas for exhibitions.

Christine YUKENBARRI Birth Date 24/02/1977 Language Kukatja Place of Birth Derby Skin/Clan Nakamarra

Christine is the youngest daughter of leading Balgo artist Helicopter Tjungurrayi and the late Lucy Yukenbarri. She has been painting since late 2000 and has produced innovative and distinctive works, both in paint and glass. She learned to paint by watching her mother and she paints her mother’s country in the Great Sandy Desert. Having learned to paint in the kintikinti (close-close) style of dotting pioneered by her mother, Christine has gone on to become one of the leading younger artists in the Western Desert. She lives in Balgo with her father and her sisters.

In collaboration with

Presented as part of Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Framing Sponsors

31–33 North Street, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia www.nth.space Open Daily | 12pm - 7pm

info@redotgallery.com

www.redotgallery.com Š ReDot Fine Art Gallery. All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retriever system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of ReDot Fine Art Gallery.

For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.