For Anmatyerre people, the Tjukurrpa, or in their own language the Altyerre, remains strong and ceremony is a major component of life.  The majority of the contemporary Utopia painters are women who secretly explore the sacred body marks used when making Awelye, women’s dances and ceremonies.  The paintings by the Numina sisters utilize free abstraction and  the    Dreamings or Tjukurrpa  have been passed down from their famously artistic Aunties, Gloria and Kathleen Petyarre.  “Medicine Leaves” and “Mountain Devil Lizard” or “Thorny Devil”  are the key themes of their work. Other famous Utopia painters such as Emily Kngwarreye, along with Gloria often utilized free abstraction, however the paintings of Anmatyerre men such as Lindsay Bird Mpetyane have remained true to the ancient system of iconographic mark-making for ceremonies, both strong, bold and geometric.

 (Caroline Numina, Bush medicine leaves, 140cm x 84 cm Acrylic on Canvas)

 Bush Medicine comes from the kurrajong plant. Traditionally the leaves are gathered and boiled in large pans or buckets, they are then pressed firmly against a person’s chest or back resembling a poultice. The kurrajong tree’s  leaves are used to remedy the flu, headaches, backaches, upset stomachs, and chest pains. Caroline has captured the wonderful flow of the leaves. Another expression of this Tjukurrpa is the white on black which looks absolutely stunning – a very distinctive painting which I have purchased for a Christmas 2010 present for a close family member.

(Louise Numina, Thorny devil lizard, Acrylic on Canvas, 119cm x 87 cm)

This gorgeous painting depicts the story of the skin of the “thorny  devil” which is referred to by Anmatyerre people as “mountain devil lizard”. The thorny devil (Moloch horridus) is an unnerving but beautifully patterned dragon-like creature with barbs and humps across its back and large, bulging protuberances on its head, camouflaging its eyes.  Surviving on small insects, it inhabits the dune areas of the country and can be found across much of the Western Desert.  The lizard is said to change colours in the desert as the sun rises and sets and the dew catches upon their skin reflecting the ability of the Mountain Thorny Devil Lizard to change from plain to vivid colours. A very detailed work created by a series of swirls in the alluring colours of yellow, orange, pink and white. It captures a feeling of gentle transition and movement, a very beautiful painting. Like the thorny devil, which has a chameleon-like ability to changes its colour, the paintings of the Numina sisters verge on the spectacular in their colour changes and stylistic variations.

(Lanita Numina, Desert flowers, 142cm x 113 cm) 

Lanita Numina paints predominantly, desert flowers.  Her style is wonderfully impressionistic, not unlike the other famous family of painters from Utopia, the Ngale sisters.  Like all Utopia art from the beginnings of the batik movement through, the explosive impact of Kngwarreye and Pwerle to the new work by emerging artists, the art of Utopia is constantly inventing and re-inventing itself.  Lanita’s  use of colours is soft and soothing as she paints the plants and flowers of her desert county.  Grass seeds, munyeroo (a pink portulaca flower), acacia (wattle) and desert raisins (small purple-flowering bushes), the fruits of which can be eaten fresh or dried and are stored by desert women over long periods are an important part of tribal life and  linked to survival in the harsh desert environment and  are very often the Dreamings expressed on  the artist’s canvas. The photograph below on exhibition opening night shows Lanita  painting works, in a contemporary style as well as more traditional ones with  the powerful iconography of her Ancestral Dreamings.

(Pacinta Turner, “My country – wallaby tracks , Acrylic on Canvas, 1570cm x 660 cm).

Pacinta Turner’s works have been a huge success at the Gallery with the majority of her works being sold quickly.  She paints the story of her country, titled “My Country – Wallaby Tracks”. The wallabies are moving toward high country at night for protection. The square areas represent my country and the hills.  The parallel lines represent the wallaby tracks. Her country is Utopia in the central desert.  This story was first painted by the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Kudditji Kngwarreye, who is now in his eighties and still paints this Dreaming story from Utopia.  Pacinta also paints this story as she has been give the Dreaming  and permission to do so.  Pacinta is the daughter of established Indigenous artist Caroline Numina Pananka and father, Daniel Pula Turner. Her mother,  Caroline taught her to paint, and recreate her ancestral stories.  She is the beginning of the next generation of artistic Numina artists.

Another year for the Gallery draws to a close and thank you to the loyal friends and supporters who have been coming to the Exhibitions. It has been a joy to visit the art centres and meet  the wonderful  Art Centre Coordinators, the artists and great people like Lauretta Ridgers and Cindy Watson who hold their beliefs and aspirations for the betterment of life for the people in the remote Indigenous communities close to their hearts, through their tireless dedication to helping others. Best wishes for the coming festive season and may God bless you all.

Xmas Exhibition

At this exhibition, amongst  the  wash of beauty and ceremonial splendour on the walls,  the special  presence of a  legendary old Master, Sonda Turner Nampijmpa, from the 1980′s  era of the Papunya Tula artists was poignant.  Her presence   created a special electrifying synergy within the gallery walls.  Sonda was one of the first women painters in the Western Desert style to gain recognition for her work, winning the 1986 Canberra Times Art Award the year after she began painting for Papunya Tula.  She is a living legend,  for her accomplishments in the Aboriginal art world,  a proud Indigneous Australian who has been able to preserve her culture through her sacred art and designs of the desert and communicate successfully with  the outside world. Sonda was born in the Simpson Desert in Yuendumu in 1956. At ten years of age she moved to Papunya. Her Father, Paddy Jangala wanted to go to Papunya as they were building a school there and his children would be able to  go to school.  The journey took six months, long and arduous. The Papunya school  teacher, Geoffrey Bardon asked Sonda’s family to paint the toilet block.  Later, he gave them paper on which to paint.  In the early seventies, Sonda saw her Uncles, Paddy Carroll Tjingurrayi and Two Bob Tjingurrayi starting to paint on canvas and sell to the Papunya Tula Art Centre. Women started painting in the 1980′s as prior to that time, it was solely the perogative of men to paint their Dreamings.  Sonda became the first female artist to paint on canvas as she was not going to  accept that only men could paint. Her Dreaming is the story of “Watyi – Wannu” which she tells by the use of the colours in the background and foreground  to represent each stage of the fire and the progression of the day.  The colours show different stages of the fire, white for unburned grass, yellow for ash, pink embers, red flame, black charcoal, green for new grass shoots after the fire, grey smoke and the dark yellow colour representing the dung of the witchetty grub.

 Sonda has not painted for Papunya Tula since the 1980’s, however she continues to  paint and to travel widely supporting herself through independent sales of her paintings.  Sonda’s life is painting and through her artwork she carries on telling and interpreting her Indigenous stories and culture. It is a practice that is strong in her family.  With tradition, stories and technique passed down from her father and uncle, there was a time when Sonda didn’t paint. But now her life is all about art, and the world sits up and takes notice.  A national treasure, or even a part of our country’s living history are accolades befitting of Sonda who stays true to her cultural heritage and does not succumb to commercial pressures. 

http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2010/09/24/3021233.htm

Sonda’s  visit to the Gallery was sponsored by Lauretta Ridgers from Readback  Books and Aboriginal Art Gallery in Darwin.

Source: Vivien Johnson, 2008. Lives of the Papunyua Tula Artists . IAD Press and ABC Katherine.

Sonda Turner Nampijmpa

 ”Watyi-Wannu”

Photo: Susan Noyes

 Strangley fascinating was the object art on “found things” around Alice by the  Tangentyere Artists. These works grabbed the  attention of  all the ardent art lovers.  A  subsequent visit to the Tangentyere Art Centre, all abuzz from a recent successful exhibition in Singapore, showed the stylistic diversity in the art.   The variety is largely due to the cultural breadth of the Alice Springs Town Camp population. This diverse group of talented artists represents over 20 cultural contexts from the Central Desert region. Tangentyere Artists is increasingly known for figurative paintings; fascinating accounts of everyday life and the recollections of town campers. The work on found objects around the town camps was innovative, stylish and vibrant.  Dan Jones documents the repeated journey he makes in a loading truck to his homelands in Utopia; Grace Robinya depicts memories of sewing patchwork blankets at Hermannsburg Mission; and  Sally Mulda celebrates “her place” in the world, painting the lively atmosphere of her camp. While town camp life has significant benefits, it can often be testing. Living standards are low, with high levels of overcrowding and limited access to basic amenities. The inception of Tangentyere Artists in 2005 provided town camp residents with professional art services already made available in other Aboriginal communities.

Source:

 Judith Ryan, Desert Mob: ‘The Power of Unsettling Surprise’ Trajectory and scope of Western Desert Art. In Desert Mob 2010 Catalogue. 

 Erica Izett, What’s the buzz: Desert Mob. In Desert Mob 2010 Catalogue.

(Photos of art courtesy of Tangentyere Arts Centre)

 At the art centre in Ngaruwanajirri, Barry Kantilla pokes a stick into an old tin can resting on the embers of a fire. Inside is a heap of yellow ochre which he will use for one of his traditional wood carvings. “See, it changes colour as it heats up. We have yellow, white, red and black. We get the ochre from the bush,” he says.  It was fascinating to experience   traditional life thriving  alongside modern ways. The customs and culture of the local people are strong, but they’re also partial to a good game of Australian Rules football.

For thousands of years the Tiwi thought they were the only people in the world; their first contact with outsiders came in the 1600s, when Macassans (Indonesians) arrived in search of sea cucumber or bêche-de-mer. In 1824 the British built a settlement at Fort Dundas in the hope that it would become a second Singapore, but disease, heat and attacks by islanders forced them to abandon it after five years.

Inside the Catholic church in Nguiu, Bathurst Island’s tiny administrative centre, the interior walls of this white wooden church, built in the 1930s, are decorated with cross-hatched designs and paintings of crocodiles, pelicans, crabs and turtles.  The tabernacle is made of tortoise shell and mother of pearl. Outside the church is a tiny white shack from where a Catholic priest sent a frantic radio message in February 1942 as he watched dozens of Japanese bombers stream over Bathurst and Melville Islands towards Darwin. A bent propeller from a Japanese Zero fighter plane rests against the side of the tiny building, one of several enemy planes downed over the islands. Several pilots and crew were captured by Tiwi men, who proudly marched them off into captivity.

The Tiwi people display a pride and self-confidence which is all too often absent from Aboriginal communities on the mainland. The Catholic Mission, which was established on Bathurst Island in 1911, was relatively passive. The Tiwi were able to weave traditional beliefs into Christianity and keep many aspects of their culture. One of the best spots on the Island is a crystal clear waterhole fringed with palms and pandanus trees, ideal for a refreshing swim on a hot day. Nearby, at a lookout point with sweeping views of deserted beaches and the mangrove-lined coast, is a traditional Tiwi grave. As with all Tiwi graves it is marked by tall wooden pukumani poles, carved and painted in recognition of the dead person’s achievements in life; in this case his love of AFL, represented by carved wooden footballs. Hunting and gathering remains an important part of Tiwi life, especially at the weekends, when whole families head for the bush. The men shoot possums, bandicoots and magpie geese, while the women collect shellfish like whelks and mussels. Most prized of all are long, slimy white worms which are hacked out of mangrove branches. “We eat it straight from the tree,” says Munkara. “It’s good for hangovers and pregnant mums!”

Jean Baptiste Apuatimi

(Jean Baptiste Apuatimi painting at Tiwi Design Aboriginal Corporation). 

 

 She is one of the most senior and renowned artists on the Tiwi Islands. Her late husband Declan Apuatimi, a famous carver and painter during his lifetime, taught Jean to paint in order to carry on the tradition of depicting designs associated with important ceremonies and Tiwi culture. Jean and Declan passed on their artistic talent to daughters Maria Josette Orsto, Carmelina Puanttalura (deceased), their son Declan Apuatimi and granddaughter Natalie Puantalura. Jean has lived at Nguiu, Bathurst Island for the majority of her life, she began working as an artist at Tiwi Design Aboriginal Corporation in 1997. Jean’s paintings depict Jilamara (body paint designs), tutini (ceremony pole), old tunga (bark baskets), pamijimi (arm band), japarrunga (double forked digging stick for kulama yam) and jikapayinga (female freshwater crocodile).

Jean’s style of painting is innovative and striking. Her complex designs and unique compositions have enabled her to achieved great recognition in the art world as both an abstract painter and custodian of Tiwi culture. In 2007, Jean was included in the inaugural National Indigenous Art Triennial exhibition at the National Art Gallery of Australia, “Culture Warriors.”

“I love my painting, I love doing it. my husband Decaln Apuatimi taught me to paint. The designs are ones he taught me – he said ‘one day you will be an artist, you will take my place’. Now I am doing that. Painting makes me alive.”

The Gallery  acknowledges  the contribution of the art centres who have provided many of the artist biographies and artwork stories. Emu Apple endeavours to purchase indigenous artworks from established and reputable community owned Art Centres. This ensures that artists are paid the market value for their work and the integrity and reputation of the artist is respected. (Jean Baptiste Apuatimi photo courtesy of  Jilmara Arts)

Donegan, with the help of a translator, told reporters the vibrant synthetic polymer paint work on canvas tells two “special” ancestral stories relating to his father and grandfather’s country in Western Australia.  He  said he was “very happy” to be receiving the awards for his painting, which took about four weeks to complete at the art centre in the South Australian Pitjantjatjara community of Kalka, where he now lives with his four children. The Pitjanjjatjara speaking artist travelled to Darwin with his daugher and Ninuku Art Centre manager for the announcement.  The award winning painting is a complex piece of work  showing the traditional style of the artist using a colourful arrangement of iconography  portraying the alignment of his father’s and grandfather’s country – the Australian desert, the traditional homelands to the Pitjantjatjara people.

It is great to see an artist of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (known as the APY Lands) receive such esteemed recognition for his efforts, and congratulations to the 460 artists who work in seven Aboriginal-owned and governed art centres on the APY Lands in the far north-west of South Australia. These Community art centres not only produce great art, but also deliver programs for community health and wellbeing.