A SELECTION IN MONCHROME – May 2021
A SELECTION IN MONOCHROME PLEASE ENJOY THIS SELECTION OF PAINTINGS IN WHICH THE ARTISTS HAVE CHOSEN A MONOCHROMATIC PALETTE WITH WHICH TO INTERPRET THEIR TJUKURRPA STORIES
ARTITJA FINE ART GALLERY – SOUTH FREMANTLE - VIEWINGS BY APPOINTMENT
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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A SELECTION IN MONCHROME – May 2021
The paintings featured here are from artists from eight art remote community art centres in Western Australia, Northern Territory and the APY Lands in South Australia from regions as distant as Kununurra and Warmun in the East Kimberley to Tjukurla and Kalka close to the tri-border states.
ARTITJA FINE ART GALLERY – SOUTH FREMANTLE – VIEWINGS BY APPOINTMENT 0418 900 954
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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A SELECTION IN MONCHROME – May 2021
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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A SELECTION IN MONCHROME – May 2021
NATASHA NAKAMARRA OLDFIELD – WARLUKURLANGU ARTISTS OF YUENDUMU, NT
Natasha Nakamarra Oldfield 122x91cm Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming) ART81621NO Courtesy Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu ©
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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WARNA JUKURRPA (Snake Dreaming) This painting depicts snake dreaming - a journey of an ancestral snake who travels a long way through the desert to the top end of Australia. Snake was very sad as his family had left him behind and he was blind and crippled but determined to follow and seek them out. He had to be carried. The ceremonial police of the Dreaming carried him, and where the snakes tail slumped and touched the ground creeks were formed. Tracks and paths are often represented by arc shapes or curved lines going across the painting. Natasha Nakamarra Oldfield 91x61cm Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming) ART655719NO
NATASHA NAKAMARRA OLDFIELD biography Natasha learnt to paint at school as well as watching her family paint. She began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 1999. She paints her Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia. She loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette to depict her traditional iconography, at the same time developing a modern individualist style, using pattern and design in a variety of contexts.
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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MARSHALL JANGALA ROBERTSON
Marshall Jangala Robertson 152x61cm Watiya-warnu Jukurrpa (Seed Dreaming) ART658919MJR Courtesy Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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WATIYA-WARNU JUKURRPA (Seed Dreaming) The painting tells the story of a Jangala ‘watiya-warnu’ (Acacia tenuissima) ancestor who travelled south from a small hill called Ngurlupurranyangu to Yamunturrngu (Mount Liebig). As he travelled he picked the ‘watiya-warnu’ seeds and placed them in ‘parrajas’ (food carriers), one of which he carried on his head. Watiya-warnu is a seed bearing tree that grows in open spinifex or mulga country. When people returned to their camp after collecting the seeds they would make large windbreaks for shelter and winnow the seed in the late afternoon. Immature ‘watiya-warnu’ seed is ground into a paste and can be used to treat upset stomachs. The associated ‘watiya-warnu’ ceremony involves the preparation of a large ground painting.
MARSHALL JANGALA ROBERTSON biography Marshall Jangala Robertson is the son of respected artist and elder (dec) Jimmy Jampijinpa Robertson from Lajamanu. His mother Denise Napangardi Tasman, also an artist means that as a young boy Marshall would sit with his parents painting their Tjukurrpa stories specific to his family’s country.
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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MARIA NAMPIJINPA BROWN
Maria Nampijinpa Brown 107x107cm Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) – Warntungurru ART126720MNB Courtesy Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu ©
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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PAMAPARDU JUKURRPA (Flying Ant Dreaming) - Warntungurru This painting is of the Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) from Warntungurru, west of Yuendumu, NT. Pamapardu is the Warlpiri language name for the flying ants or termites that build the large anthills found throughout Warlpiri country. They build earth mounds (mingkirri) that are common in the Tanami area. When heavy rains come in summer the mingkirri get flooded out so the pamapardu grow wings and fly off to make new homes, following their queens to dry mounds or to build anew. When they have found their new home they drop their wings. In this stage they can be collected, lightly cooked in coals and eaten. As they fall to the ground women collect them to eat because they are nice and sweet.
MARIA NAMPIJINPA BROWN biography Maria Nampijinpa Brown was born in 1973 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community, 290 km from Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She is the daughter of Wendy Nungarrayi Brown and grand-daughter of Paddy Japaljarri Sims (Dec) one of the founding artists of Warlukurlangu Artists and Bessie Nakamarra Sims (Dec), a successful artist in her own right. When she was little she would watch her mother and her grandparents paint and listen to their stories. She is widowed, lives in Yuendumu and has two daughters, Antoinette Napanangka Brown who also paints with the art centre and Alicka Napanangka Brown. Maria has been painting with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre, since 1995. She paints her parents and her grandparents Jukurrpa stories, stories that have been passed down through the generations for millennia. These stories relate to the artists traditional country northwest of Nyirirpi, a settlement 160 kms west of Yuendumu. Maria uses traditional iconography, while developing a modern individualistic style to depict her traditional Jukurrpa. When Maria is not painting she likes to tell stories to her grandchildren, hunt for honey ants when it is raining, and collect firewood for cooking kangaroo tails.
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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BOMBATU NAPANGARDI
Bombatu Napangardi 122x91cm Marrapinti Site ART602201BN Papunya Tula Artists
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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BOMBATU NAPANGARDI Bombatu was born in the desert west of Kintore close to Kiwirrkurra in 1955. This painting represents the tali (sandhills) and puli (rocky outcrops) at the site of Marrapinti west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. A group of ancestral women camped at the rockhole before continuing their travels east. While at Marrapinti they made nose bones (also known as marrapinti). The bones are worn through a hole made in the nose. The nose bones were originally made by both men and women. As the women continued their travels they gathered edible berries know as kampurarrpa, or desert raisin. The berries are a valuable food source and can be eatern either directly from the plant or ground into a paste and cooked on coals as damper.
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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BOB GIBSON
Bob Gibson 102x76cm Patjantja ART181153KA-BG Courtesy Tjarlirli Art & Kaltukatjara Art
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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PATJANTJA This painting is about two snakes and two men who travelled north to Karrkurinkitja. As the party travelled some strangers came up behind them and the snakes fled. Then Kurningka (boss of the Tingari men) went looking. The clouds were coming towards them. The snakes were travelling fast and the water was rising and the lady snake went in the ants hole but the other snake was left outside. Kurningka was saying, ‘water is coming closer’ but the other snake was too big for the hole. The Kurningka cut the snake and a lot of fat came out.
BOB GIBSON biography Bob was born at Papunya and moved with his family to Tjukurla at the time of the homelands movement in the late 1980’s. Bob has been painting with Tjarlirli Art since 2007. Bob's bold and energetic paintings have put Bob amongst some of the most sought-after emerging artists in the contemporary indigenous art world. His unique and powerful style represents country in a wild and imaginative exploration of colour and form. Bob enjoys telling the stories from his father’s country of Patjarr and his mother's country of Kulkurta.
Courtesy Tjarlirli Art & Kaltukatjara Art
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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LINDSAY MALAY
Lindsay Malay, (My Ganggyi Country), Natural Ochre and pigments on canvas – 80x80cm ART22219LM Courtesy: Warmun Art Centre
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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LINDSAY MALAY (My Gaanggyi Country) In Lindsay’s words “This painting represents my ancestral connection through my grandmother. I am using my creek bed as mapping and a way of telling this story. LINDSAY MALAY biography Lindsay Malay is a Gija man. His grandfather’s country is on Corolla Cattle Station (Old Bedford Downs) and his grandmother’s country is Yulumbu (Tableland Station), Warlawoon Country. He was born in Wyndham and grew up on Bedford Downs Cattle Station and in Halls Creek, and now lives in the Warmun Community. His Grandfather, Sally Malay, had 12 children. Sally raised the children and his 4 grandchildren on Bedford Downs Station before moving in to Halls Creek where he worked as a baker to support his family. Lindsay returned to station life at the age of 13, working as a stockman on Bedford Downs with his eldest brother. His mother passed away when he was 16 and he looked after himself from that time – working on Bedford Downs and Lissadell Stations in the Kimberley, and on Bunda Station in the Northern Territory. In 1993 Lindsay moved to Melbourne for 2 years before returning to Derby where he started a family. Lindsay’s first daughter was born in 1996. Lindsay since raised 6 more children with his partner Marika Riley, who works as Warmun Art Centre’s Gallery Assistant. Having his own family is one of Lindsay’s greatest joy’s in life. Lindsay returned to his ancestral country, living and working around Tableland Station and Mornington for 8 years while his family fought to reclaim their land. In 2010, his family won back their country – Warlawoon – which was broken off from the Yulumbu pastoral lease. Lindsay has inherited this country from his Grandfather. Rammey Ramsey, one of Warmun Art Centre’s senior artists, is the only remaining Elder from Warlawoon country. In 2012 Lindsay and family returned to Victoria to support their son, Sally, who was following a career in rodeo, and it was around this time Lindsay started painting because he was missing his home in the Kimberley. He now lives and paints in Warmun. Lindsay is one of Warmun Art Centres very keen and engaged emerging artists and Studio Assistant. Lindsay connects with his Grandmother and Grandfather’s country through his own painting and work assisting the elder artists. Courtesy: Warmun Art Centre
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CAROL YOUNG
L: Carol Young 91x91cm – Kuntjanu ART20258cy Courtesy: Ninuku Arts
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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KUNTJANU All the wati wanampi’s (male watersnakes) travel from Mutitjulu, Uluru and Kata Tjuta to Malara. They are called Wal Mala, army. There they take wati Malara and travel south of Pipalyatjara to Kuntjanu rockhole where they kill Wati Wanampi Kuntjanu. Continuing their travels they kill Wati Wanampi Tjakara. They then return to their homelands. CAROL YOUNG biography Carol Young was born in 1972 in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory. Like many other Anangu (people of the Pitjantjara lands Carol remembers spending much of her younger years travelling between communties, patticularly Amata and Pipalyatjara. Today Carol lives in Pipalyatjara and is the primary carer for several of her family members. Carol comes from a strong Anangu family, with both her father and grandmother also being prominent artists. Her father, Stanley Young, aside from being an artist, is also a local elder, lawman, and camel herder. She is also the granddaughter of the late Nyankula Watson, an important Western Desert Painter. Nyankula has passed down both her ‘tjukurpa’ (traditional stories) and unique art style to her granddaughter, which influences all of Carol’s work today. In Anangu culture, stories and painting style are often protected within families of which only select individuals have permission to continue in their own art practice. Carol uses dot work, with sweeping brush strokes to depict these mystical stories of country.
Courtesy: Ninuku Arts
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CAROL YOUNG
WATI TJAKURA This painting tells the Wati Tjakura tjurkupa, The Tjakura an edible skink (Great Desert Skink) is the central figure in the creation story that took place at Arulya. Wati Tjakura was killed alongside his countryman Wati Kuntjanu when an army of snake-men from Uluru and Kata Tjuta journeyed south to Aralya and murdered the two men with spears. The Wal Mala (army of male snakes) and the Wati Wanampi (male water snake) from the waterhole site known as Malara came together in battle and threw spears at Wati trakura. He tried to escape but was killed and his family came down to grieve and bury him. After that the soldiers travelled over the border to WA.
Carol Young 91x91cm - Wati Tjakura ART20256cy Courtesy: Ninuku Arts
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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JOSEPHINE MICK WATI TJAKURA TJUKURPA This is a creation story that took place at Arulya 80km southwest of Pipalyatjara. It is Josephine’s father’s ngura (country) and her family are the traditional owners and custodians of his homelands at Kuntjanu. Tjakuras are known in English as the Great Desert Skink. JOSEPHINE WATJARI MICK was born in 1955 to revered artist Kuntjiriya Mick, at a site near Pukatja in South Australia. She spent most of her childhood in the eastern region of the APY Lands and has strong family ties to this area. When she was a young girl, Josephine had a vivid dream in which she saw a bright tongue of fire. In this dream, she walked towards the fire and burnt her hands. When she woke up she realised her hands were hot. Shortly after this dream, Josephine started working as a ‘Ngangkari’ (traditional healer). She believes that her dream had given her her ‘Ngangkari’ power. Since then she has focussed much of her power and energies on healing women and children. During the “Homelands Movement” of the 1970s, Josephine moved to Pipalyatjara, where she still resides today. She is a respected local elder and is very involved in cultural business. She is also an active member of the Ninuku Arts Centre and has held the role of director several times. Josephine’s painting style is extremely distinctive. Her works take an unusually long time to create, due to the thick layering of dots she creates in a variety of sizes and colours. Her palette is inspired by the desert flowers and plants from the area. Josephine Mick 106x60cmcm Wati Tjakura Tjukurpa ART20295JM
Information courtesy Ninuku Arts ©
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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AGNES YAMBOONG ARMSTRONG Biography Agnes Armstrong's paintings embrace the stories of her childhood years in delightful often naïve interpretations. She shares her memories of growing up on stations, bushlife and the stories taught by her grandparents. Her images connect story, place and childhood memory. "Born beside a billabong on Ivanhoe Station I grew up with old people. They taught me lots about hunting -all the bush foods. I used to work at Ivanhoe station doing housework and gardening. I came to Kununurra and started schooling during the '60s. Before that I had been at the Research Station School. During the '70s I was at the Beagle Bay Mission School. I came back to Kununurra then and got a job cooking for the pensioners in our Mirima Community. I would do the shopping, counting the money for the pensioners and paid their bills. We had a little shop then. I then moved to Dingo Springs where I watched the old people carving boab nuts and I started doing boabs. After that I came back here to Waringarri Arts to do painting. As well I am doing Ministry and bible studies. I have one daughter and three adopted sons and I live in Mirima, stopping in my country for good."
Agnes Yamboong Armstrong taken at Old Ivanhoe Station – where she was born under a tree (Photo: © Anna Kanaris taken during a Waringarri Arts Cultural Tour, May 2019)
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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AGNES YAMBOONG ARMSTRONG
ROAD TRAIN
"I was born on Old Ivanhoe Station. However in the 1960s, when I was 9 or 10 years old, they moved us to New Ivanhoe Station, the bank side of the river. It was our loving home that I'll never forget. This was before Kununurra was built, there were only Main Road camps in those days. At the crossing people used to come from Ivanhoe station for a holiday. They used to dance corroborees and we used to sit on the bank and watch the road trains go past with bullocks on the truck going to Wyndham meatworks. Sometimes, they came past with empty trailers to get bullock from Ivanhoe Station. I always cried for them, it made me sad. "
Courtesy: Waringarri Arts Agnes Yamboong Armstrong 60x60cm Road Train ART571619AA
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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PATRICIA KANI BAKER TUNKIN MINYMA MALILU (Baker Family) Malilu was a poor thing, she was looking everywhere for food. She was a crippled woman and her daughters had run off. After much hard work she found mai kutjupa kutjapa (different bush foods). She found kampurarpa (desert raisings) and wirriwiny. She travelled between the rockholes looking for food. This is a true story from the Dreamtime.
Left: Patricia Kani Baker Tunkin 122x101cm Minyma Malilu (Baker Family) ART26620PT
Right: 76x56cm 76x56cm Kani – Malilunya ART15320PT
Courtesy : Papulankutja Artists
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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PATRICIA KANI BAKER TUNKIN
Biography Patricia Baker Tunkin was born in Alice Springs in 1981. She is the granddaughter of the celebrated artist Jimmy Baker, daughter of gifted artist, Kay Baker Tunkin and sister of artist Teresa Baker. Patricia grew up in her grandfather’s country at Kanpi and lived with her grandparents for much of the time, later moving to Fregon, APY LAnds SA where she lived with her parents. It was there that she was first exposed to art via her mother, Kay, who worked for many years at Kaltjiti art centre. Patricia started painting around 2005 at Tjungu Palya art centre, Nyapari, APY Lands SA where she was taught by her grandfather, Jimmy Baker. Patricia paints stories associated with her grandfather’s dreaming’s, in particular Kalaya Tjukurpa (Emu Dreaming) and the important women’s creation figure of Marlilu. Patricia is married with a child and lives in Kanpi in the Pitjantjatjara lands. She paints with Papulankutja Artists when visiting relatives in Blackstone as Kani’s husband is from Blackstone so the family moves from place to place. They have two children a boy who is ten years old and a girl 3 years. Courtesy : Papulankutja Artists
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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RENAE FOX
WATI NGINTAKA TJUKURPA This is the story about Wati Ngintaka (Goanna Man). Wati Ngintaka heard the clapping sound of a beautiful grinding stone, a traditional tool used for grinding mai (food). Wati Ngintaka wanted that stone for himself so he travelled from Arange a long way east toward Wayatin looking for the stone. He spotted Anangu Tjuta (lots of people) at the camp. Some of the people gave him mai in the form of a seed cake, but it was dry and he didn’t like it. Then one lady gave him delicious food and he knew that it had been made with seed ground on the special grinding stone. He spied the grinding stone and hid it under his tail. The next day when Anagu went out hunting, Wati Ngintaka stayed in the camp saying he had a sore foot, and once everyone had gone he stole the grinding stone. All the people were angry with Wati Ngintaka and chased him, when they caught him they felt all over his body to see where he was hiding the grinding stone but they couldn’t find it. Wati Ngintaka held up his arms and claimed he didn’t have it but they saw he was hiding it in his tail. The people speared the Wati ngintaka and retrieved the grinding stone. Wati Ngintaka passed away at a place called Aran’nga in the Northern Territory. Ngaltutjara (poor thing). Courtesy: Minyma Kutjara Arts Project
Renae Fox 122x76cm Wati Ngintaka Tjukutpa ART20130RF
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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RENAE FOX
Biography Renae Fox (b.1986) is a Pitantjatjara woman who was born in Kalka on the APY Lands of northwestern South Australia and the daughter of renowned artists Yangi Yangi and Albert Fox. After finishing primary school she attended Wiltja Anangu Secondary College in Adelaide. Fox is an emerging artist with a great future ahead. She first started paintng when she was 18 years old after watching her mother and father at Ninuku Art Centre in Kalka. Her parents also taught her tjanpi (grass) weaving and punu (sculpture) and encouraged her to travel extensively with them to exhibitions both locally and interstate.
Courtesy: Minyma Kutjara Arts Project
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CHRISTINE NAKAMARRA CURTIS
Christine Nakamarra Curtis 122x107cm Mina Mina Dreaming ART653819CC
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CHRISTINE NAKAMARRA CURTIS
MINA MINA JUKURRPA (DREAMING)
Biography
Mina Mina is an extremely important ceremonial site for women that is located approx. 600km west of Yuendumu east of Lake Mackay and the WA Border.
Christine was born in Alice Spring Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal The area has a ‘marluri’ (salt lake or claypan) that is usually dry community 290 km northwithout water. There are also a number of ‘mulju’ (soakages), west of Alice Springs. She sandhills and a large stand of ‘kurrkara’ (desert oaks). The Mina was born into a family of Mina Jukurrpa is an important source of Warlpiri ritual artists, which include Kelly knowledge and social organization particularly relating to the Napanangka Michaels, her mother, Roy Jupurrurla Curtis, her different roles performed by men and women. father, and Alice Nampijinpa Henwood Michaels, her Aunty. She is the eldest of 7 sisters and spent most of her childhood at There are a number of different components of the Mina Mina Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community located 150 km Jukurrpa and artists usually choose to depict one particular north-west of Yuendumu. Christine attended her local school. aspect. These can include women, digging sticks, hairstring Shen then went on to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding skirsts/tassels, snakevine, desert truffle and desert oak. college in Alice Springs, and continued her studies at Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin. Courtesy: Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu After finishing schooling she returned to Nyirripi, where she worked in the store. 'I love the place. I grew up here learning from the old people.
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CECILY NAPANANGKA MARSHALL
Cecily Napanangka Marshall 91x91cm Vaughan Springs Dreaming ART182320ny
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CECILY NAPANAGKA MARSHALL
VAUGHAN SPRINGS DREAMING Vaughan Springs, or Pikilyi is a large and important waterhole and natural spring near Mount Doreen Station. The story is of the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as man and wife. The woman, ‘rainbow serpent’ was of the Napanangka skin groups, the man Japangardi. This was a taboo relationship contrary to Warlpiri religious law, and forbidden. Biography Cecily Napanangka Marshall was born in 1975 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs Hospital. Her parents were living in Yuendumu at the time but her mother passed away when she was young and her father moved to Mt Allan. Cecily was brought up by her Grandmother who has since died. She began her schooling in Alice Springs but attended the local school in Nyirripi when she moved in with her Grandmother. Cecily is a single mum with one daughter who attends Nyirripi Primary School. She has sisters and brothers who were also raised by her Grandmother. Cecily began painting with Walukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 2008. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that Cecily began to paint full-time. She paints her Grandmother’s and Grandfather’s Jukurrpa, stories that have been passed down the generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Cecily particularly likes painting Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming) from her Grandmother’s side and Watiya-warnu Jukurrpa (Bush Seed Dreaming) from her Grandfather’s side. Cecily likes to paint with her Grandmother’s sister, Phyllis Napurrurla Williams and her sister Valerie Napurrurla Morris. “I like the stories. I watch as they paint and tell me about the possum dreaming.” When Cecily is not painting she use to play sport, particularly basketball. These days she likes to go hunting for Yurrampi (Honey ants) and Ngarlkirdi (witchetty grubs). Courtesy: Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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PATRICIA NAKAMARA OLDFIELD
WARNA JUKURRPA – SNAKE DREAMING This painting depicts snake dreaming - a journey of an ancestral snake who travels a long way through the desert to the top end of Australia. Snake was very sad as his family had left him behind and he was blind and crippled but determined to follow and seek them out. He had to be carried. The ceremonial police of the Dreaming carried him, and where the snakes tail slumped and touched the ground creeks were formed. Tracks and paths are often represented by arc shapes or curved lines going across the painting. Courtesy: Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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PATRICIA NAKAMARRA OLDFIELD
Biography Patricia Nakamarra Olfield was born in 1982 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She has lived in Yuendumu most of her life. She is the daughter of two Warlukurlangu painters. Patricia is married to Sebastian Jangala Roberston and both of them are very active and positive members of the art centre. They have no children but have adopted a small boy called Favian who they look after. Patricia finished Primary School at Yuendumu High School and then left to get married. Both she and her husband are actively involved with the Mt Theo Program, in particular the Jaru Pirrjirdi Youth Development, which incorporates the Yuendumu Youth Program. Patricia has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2001. She paints stories that are closely associated with her traditional country. Her main story is Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming), Dreamings that have been passed down to her from her father and his father’s father for millennia.
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CHRISTINE DAISY PURUNTATAMERI
Christine Daisy Puruntatameri 120x80cm Pupuni Jilamara ART2094CDP
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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CHRISTINE DAISY PURUNTATAMERI
PUPUNI JILAMARA 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’.
Biography Christine was born in 1983 on the Tiwi Islands, and paints through the Munupi Art Centre based at Pirlimginpi at Melville Island. Christine is not a prolific painter however she has been included in exhibitions as far away as Europe. Christine featured in Artitja Fine Art Gallery’s IN OCHRE exhibition held in June 2020 in South Fremantle.
Courtesy: Munupi Art Centre, Tiwi Islands
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The paintings in this e-catalogue have been sourced through the following remote Aboriginal community Art Centres whom which we work closely with. They are :
Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu, Yuendumu NT Waringarri Art Centre, Kununurra, WA Tjarlirli/Kaltukatjara Art Centres, Tjukurla Community, WA Papunya Tula Artists, NT Ninuku Arts, Kalka, APY Lands; SA/WA Warmun Art Centre, Warmun, WA Papulankutja Artists, Blackstone, WA Minyma Kutjara Arts Project, Wingellina, WA
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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ARTITJA FINE ART GALLERY – ABOUT US
Artitja Fine Art Gallery is a private art gallery based in South Fremantle and is open by appointment outside our exhibition program. In its 17th year, Artitja Fine Art Gallery holds up to six exhibitions a year in gallery exhibition spaces, details of which can be found on our website. At all other times we are open for viewing by appointment. Specialising in Australian Indigenous art, Artitja Fine Art Gallery partners with remote art centre communities from Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia’s APY Lands in bringing the art to the city. This unique business model allows for a personalised and informative approach to viewing and collecting art in a relaxed and welcoming environment. Making the gallery visit comfortable and accessible is a priority for Directors. Anna Kanaris and Arthur Clarke whose dictum is “Making Cultural Connections through Art”. If you would like prices and/or high resolution images of particular works you may be interested in, please contact us. All enquiries are welcome to Anna Kanaris at anna@artitja.com.au or call 0418 900 954. To view the complete collection of paintings we carry please visit our website www.artitja.com.au
Artitja Fine Art Gallery South Fremantle, WA | t Anna 0418 900 954 | e info@artitja.com.au | w www.artitja.com.au
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