RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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Artitja Fine Art Gallery in partnership with Martumili Artists is delighted to be curating RISING! Roxanne Newberry the first solo exhibition of rising star and emerging artist Roxanne Newberry from the remote community of Punmu in the East Pilbara, WA.
Born in Warakurna in 1985 Roxanne, whose energy and zeal glow through her paintings is a relative newcomer to the exhibition circuit.
Roxanne Newberry portrait © Martumili Artists
Many of the paintings in this exhibition are of Roxanne’s father’s country, Yirriya, which she proudly represents with bold colour and texture. 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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
_________________________________________ THE STORY OF YIRRIYA “I paint my dad’s country, Yirriya. It’s got running water coming out of the ground into a big dam, surrounded by lots of trees. It’s really green. It’s on Rawlinson Ranges, fifty or sixty kilometres from Warakurna. Nearby is Circus Waters where my dad was born. We’d go swimming there. Lake Christopher is nearby too. All part of his Country. We would go hunting; turkey, emu, kangaroo, look for bardi/lungki (witchetty grub), honey ants, yellow berries. It’s an outstation. We call it home. We grew up in that place. Family from Warakurna, Docker River, Wingellina and Wanarn would come and stay. Good memories of that place.” – Roxanne Newberry
The following paintings portray Yirriya an area of Country that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Firstly, the image may be read as an aerial representation of a particular location known to the artist- either land that they or their family travelled, from the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era to now. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and huntng and gathering bush tucker as they went. At this time, one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation), ngarrini (camps), and jina (tracks) are typically recorded with the use of a system of iconographic forms universally shared across the desert.
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Linen 152x106cm ART21732RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
_________________________________________ An additional layer of meaning in the work relates to more intangible concepts; life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire) are also often evident. A thousands year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is evident in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth. Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. Very often, however, information relating to Jukurrpa is censored by omission, or alternatively painted over with dotted patterns.
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x91cm ART21921RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 121x76cm ART21936RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x91cm ART21922RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x91cm ART21923RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x61cm ART2213RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x61cm ART2214RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 76x76cm ART22151RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x91cm ART2218RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x61cm ART2217RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 91x61cm ART21920RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 122x76cm ART2219RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas
61x46cm ART21931RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 61x46cm ART211016RN
YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 61x46cm ART211104RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 46x36cm ART21952RN
YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 46x36cm
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
_________________________________________ ART211034RN
YIRRIYA Acrylic on Canvas 46x36cm ART211110RN
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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WARAKURNA Acrylic on Canvas 91x91cm ART21275RN
The birthplace of the artist Warakurna is a large Aboriginal community, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku it lies near the foot of the spectacular Rawlinson Range, 300 kilometres west of Uluru (Ayers Rock) near the meeting of the borders of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Ngaanyatjarra people have strong �es with neighbouring Western Desert groups, including Martu.
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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IWAUNYTJU – Two Ladies Acrylic on Linen 152x76cm ART21175RN
“This whole place has nickel and copper under the ground. Irrunytju Community (Minyma Kutjava) grandather’s place all my mother’s family are there, too many still there”. - Roxanne Newberry
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
_________________________________________ ROXANNE NEWBERRY – Biographical summary Born 1985 | Warakurna, WA
“My name is Roxanne Newberry I'm from Warakurna. I've been painting for a few years now. I was watching my sister Cynthia Burke and my mother Jorna Newberry paint I'd sometimes help them with their painting. It gave me some ideas for my painting. I love doing aerial landscapes of my father’s Country. I was watching Cynthia weave at Tjanpi Desert Weavers then I decided to do my own. When I'm painting or weaving I forget about everything and everyone forget about my worries, it makes me feel like me”.
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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Since opening in March 2004, Artitja Fine Art Gallery have specialised in presenting art from multiple remote community Aboriginal Art Centres throughout Western Australia, Northern Territory, including the Tiwi Islands and the Anangu, Pitjantjatjara,Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. We are based in South Fremantle and open by appointment daily. We hold 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. Working by appointment means our unique and long lasting 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 at anna@artitja.com.au or call 0418 900 954. This exhibition can also be viewed online Please visit our website www.artitja.com.au
Artitja Fine Art Gallery Directors acknowledge the Traditional Custodians, the Nyoongar people of the Wadjuk Nation on whose land we live and work, and pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.
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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RISING! Roxanne Newberry 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2022
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All enquiries are welcome to anna@artitja.com.au or call Anna on 0418 900 954 View the exhibition online https://www.artitja.com.au/rising-roxanne-newberry/
Information supplied by Martumili Artist art centre. Images are copyright of the artist, the art centre and Artitja Fine Art Gallery.
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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