Ngardamarri by FORM WA

CHEEDITHA ART GROUP Kaye Warrie Sharon Warrie Wendy Warrie

J U LU WA R LU A RT G R O U P Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy Jane Cheedy Tootsie Daniel Alice Guiness Wendy Hubert Denise Kelly

Y I N JA A- B A R N I A RT Marlene Harold Maudie Jerrold Aileen Sandy Allery Sandy Melissa Sandy Justina Willis

WARNING This catalogue contains images, names, and stories of Aboriginal people who have passed away. SPELLING AND NAMING Throughout this catalogue readers may notice variations in the spelling of language words and names. The spellings used are as directed by the Elders and artists from each art centre.

Foreword Welcome to Ngardamarri at The Goods Shed, a magnificent display of artwork from artists based in the Pilbara town of Roebourne. In bringing this exhibition to Perth, I respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which it is presented, the Whadjuk Noongar nation, as well as those of the lands and cultures where these beautiful works originated, and pay respect to all Elders, past, present and emerging. Featuring 15 artists from three art centres – Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group and YinjaaBarni Art – and one independent photographer, this exhibition is a joyful celebration of art-making and a testament to the vibrancy of this artistic community. The artists featured in Ngardamarri are highly skilled and dedicated practitioners. Over the past 12 months, FORM has had the privilege of working with the artists at Cheeditha

Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group, and Yinjaa-Barni Art to deliver arts and professional skills workshops intended to enhance the strength of these important community hubs. Ngardamarri celebrates the artists who were part of these workshops and provides FORM’s audience with the opportunity to witness some of the brilliant outcomes. This workshop program grew out of the wider Pilbara Survey project (a working title), which has seen FORM collaborate with art centres across the Pilbara to celebrate the significant Aboriginal artists and art movement of the region. The project works towards a major public outcome in early 2022. We are honoured to be presenting Ngardamarri and I would like to extend our sincere thanks to the art centres and their Elders, artists and staff for allowing FORM the opportunity to share these artworks with Perth audiences. The

featured works are diverse, spanning intricate patterns to bold large-scale canvases, mesmerising depictions of the landscape, striking works on paper, innovative carved boards, and powerful images. Ngardamarri also marks my first exhibition at The Goods Shed as FORM’s Executive Director. I have been inspired by FORM’s legacy and its commitment to encouraging resilient and vibrant communities. Like these art centres, FORM is committed to using creativity as a means of empowerment. This is our driving force, and I am excited by what’s to come at FORM, across the Pilbara, and across the State.

Tabitha McMullan

Executive Director, FORM

Allery Sandy painting at Yinjaa-Barni Art, 2021

Ngardamarri

Ngardamarri ARTISTS OF ROEBOURNE

Spread out a map of Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Let your eyes trace the line of coast from Port Hedland down past Dampier to Onslow; maybe count the number of river mouths connecting to the Indian Ocean as you go. You might briefly let your gaze go inland, noticing how this region is latticed with river systems, crazing their ways across gorges, tablelands and desert to the coast. So many rivers, fracturing into tributaries, creeks: freshwater flexing pathways into and out of the ground, making waterholes, some permanent, some ephemeral. Find the river marked with the name Fortescue. Allow your eyes to travel along it, a couple of hundred kilometres or so to the east and south, to where it starts snaking between the Hamersley and Chichester ranges. You’ll arrive at a national park called the Millstream Chichester, through which the Fortescue flows and floods and pools. Or rather, Yarndanyirra the ‘sun mirror’ will have brought you across Nyirryany country―the Fortescue floodplain―to Jirndawurrina, deep in Yindjibarndi Country. This is the place where, during Ngurra Nyujunggamu the Marrga Creator Beings lifted the sky and the world out of the sea to create ngurra1 and the first Law Ground. From here, the Birdarra Law

that is followed by Yindjibarndi people constellated “thousands of kilometres across the desert… as far as Uluru” (Exploring Yindjibarndi Country - Gregory Gorge 100), influencing Law followed by other nations. Here too, the Creator Beings “left tracks or some kind of evidence of themselves [and t]hese traces determined the identity of the people” (Graham 183). Indeed, along the riverbed at Wuyumarri (Gregory Gorge) several places bear the imprint of the feet of the Marrga, at Yananha and at the Burndud2 site at Birlinbirlin, where the Creator Beings danced an eternal circle into the bedrock. They engraved many symbols and stories into the hills and rocks of Country, to show where and how far they travelled. This is the land to which the artists of this exhibition―the artists of Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group, and Yinjaa-Barni Art3 ―belong. These are the places that power their culture, and sustain their stories, lives, and art. Yindjibarndi Country is a landscape of towering escarpments, sunbaked plateaus, lush tree-lined wetlands and rolling hills. After rain, a vivid glut of colour floods the ground: the scarlet of Thurla Wirdinbirding (Sturt Desert Pea), the mellow pastels of the mulla

mulla. Jirndawurrina itself is a network of deep, spring-fed permanent yinda (pools), shaded by the greenery of trees and plants whose ancestry can be traced back to the ancient past when rainforests covered the Pilbara. It holds good hunting and fishing country, fertility sites, thalu (increase) sites, places where nations would come together to camp, places where, at the end of earthly life, the old people would return to earth, and to their ancestors. Ngardamarri. In Yindjibarndi language (referred to as the principal Aboriginal language of this part of the Pilbara, from which other languages are derived),4 it means ‘side-by-side’. Side-by-side: independent, yet mutually respectful. According to the Yindjibarndi creation story, when the world was soft all of the Aboriginal people of the area―the NgaardaNgarli ―were the same, and spoke the same language. The Marrga separated them into equal groups, responsible for discrete―yet neighbouring―lands and culture. As a consequence of this important act, “the NgaardaNgarli could now identify themselves as being from separate nations, such as Yindjibarndi, Gurruma, Banyjima, Marduthunira, Ngarluma, and Yinhawangka” (Exploring Yindjibarndi Country - Gregory Gorge 57)” Sovereign nations, side-by-side.

Given this creation story, it is perhaps fitting that the three art collectives featured in this exhibition have evolved into their current formations out of origins and relationships that are deeply intermeshed through Country, family, and kinship. This is partly due to the composition of Ieramugadu’s (Roebourne) presentday population. While the town is on Ngarluma land, it is also where Yindjibarndi people live, both language groups (as well as others) having been displaced from their ancestral lands, thanks to the impact of European settlement5, and the mining and pastoral industries. Many current Roebourne residents are the descendants of pastoral workers; a number of artists in this exhibition were born and raised on the stations where their parents worked. The art groups of the area also have an origin story in common, in the shape of an artist collective that gathered to paint at Bajinhurrba (the Ngarluma name for Cossack) in the early 2000s. This Cossack group sparked other collectives in Ieramugadu and Cheeditha. Ngardamarri artists Wendy, Kaye and Sharon Warrie belong to the Cheeditha-based family instrumental to starting the Cossack enterprise. While the Cheeditha Art Group is the smallest collective represented in

the exhibition, it is one with some of the longest-standing links to the original Cossack group. Wendy describes how “the old people wanted an art centre and they chose the art thing to be in Cossack, Bajinhurrba.” Every day, Wendy, her mother and sisters painted there, the younger artists learning from the older people. The art of all three sisters references the stories and land features of Millstream and Gregory Gorge from when the world was soft. Wendy tends to choose a restrained palette for her artworks: “I always use blues and browns. Sometimes greens.” The artist’s paintings are mesmeric line representations of tidal flow and rugged coastlines: graceful undulations of paint mirroring each other to ripple across the canvas. Accessing memories of childhood, Kaye Warrie likes to make graphic, large-scale paintings of the Sturt Pea, Thurlawirdingbirding, recalling “when we were kids [w]e were always out bush. We never used to get any lollies or anything like that. But mum would give us the Desert Sturt Pea flowers to suck on, and there’s a little bit of honey in there.” By contrast to her sister Wendy’s muted palette, Kaye’s colour choices involve strong scarlets and pinks. Likewise, Sharon Warrie’s canvases feature dramatic shapes and vibrant blocks of colour.

Another original Bajinhurrba member, Maudie Jerrold, now paints with YinjaaBarni. Her intricate, tonal pieces, evocative of wind on the surface of water are part of the Ngardamarri exhibition. Maudie recalls that she used to go to Bajinhurrba every morning to paint: “I started off when I was young… [me] and my brother (Clifton Mack) used to work at this and that… [t]he artists there, we started helping and supporting each other, having ideas and talking about it. Sitting around having a bit of a yarn about how are we going to start and where are we going to start.” The three art centres involved in Ngardamarri therefore have links through language, cultural stories, and family. In aspects of practice, however, there are distinctive differences. While most use acrylics on canvas, some artists choose to etch or carve their artwork and designs onto special boards. At Juluwarlu, for example, Jane Cheedy makes etchings on scratchboards and Yarranga Marni boards: definite yet also delicately detailed renditions of thalu sites, local plants and animals―“what the land give[s] us,” says Jane―picked out in white on a black background, or in other duotones. She adds “you have to work out the lines. Some are fine lines and some are deep and strong.”

Ngardamarri

Other Juluwarlu artists featured in Ngardamarri produce canvases, or works on paper. Jane’s sister Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy loves building up densely patterned abstract works, representing “native trees, plants and seeds, spinifex, landscapes, claypans and flat plains” and sometimes the Birndirri (Evening Star), associated with the important cultural site of Birlinbirlin, and the jawi (songs) sung there by the Elders. Fellow artist Denise Kelly’s dramatic white, purple and brown canvas focuses on the BunggarliYarra (Seven Sisters) story, whose epic journey across Australia started in Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi Country. Meanwhile Tootsie Daniel’s canvases are bright swirls of colour, free-handed and exuberant representations of river systems and forbidden pools, “I paint them [in a] different style,” she says, “I’ve always loved colour.” Wendy Hubert, by contrast, paints figurative landscapes in saturated colours, directly recalled from memory. She explains “I got this great photographer brain box… I remember the landscape, and the sky and my brother and me playing… I draw some of the Guruma Country, and I draw the best in Millstream... I still got it in my head.” The exhibition also features some startling works on paper by Alice Guiness, an artist who has for a long time directly referenced cultural stories by painting huge, often multicoloured concentric circles to represent the Burndud. The artists of Yinjaa-Barni paint out of an old heritage building, Dalgety House, in the centre of Roebourne. As senior Yinjaa-Barni artist Allery Sandy states,

the name of the art group articulates perfectly the idea of side-by side: “Yinjaa-Barni [means] working together, doing things together. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, if your heart is in painting and working together.” Allery’s lyrical, abstract depictions of native flora feature are typical of the approach most of the YinjaaBarni artists take to their art practice. Yindjibarndi Country is renowned for the extraordinary variety and tenacity of its wildflowers, whose dazzling displays maybe serve to disguise and soften features of Country significant only to the people who belong there. Accordingly, the work of Maudie Jerrold, Allery, Aileen Sandy, Justina Willis, Marlene Harold and Melissa Sandy all show inscrutable compressions of shape and pattern and colour, applied by brush or sponge or stick. The palette may vary from artist to artist: the weave of deep reds, purples and blues of Aileen’s canvases, for example, contrasting with the candied petalshaped brushstrokes of Justina’s work. While cultural references may remain intentionally oblique, there is no doubt that in the density of detail, worked up inch by inch and layer by layer, these paintings hold cultural meaning. A large amount of people in and around Roebourne are involved in some form of art-making, indicating the importance of art to economic opportunity as well as cultural maintenance. There are four art centres supporting the practices and accommodating the careers of emerging as well as senior

generations of practitioners, all of whom are invested in passing on the stories. A small contingent of independent artists also make art in and around Roebourne, and among them is Chenise Cameron, the young Wongatha photographer whose images of family and landscape are also presented as part of Ngardamarri. In the variety of artworks, on canvas, paper, carved boards, and in photography, shown side-by-side at The Goods Shed, Ngardamarri is a powerful testament to the inspiration and sustenance that flows from Country to the artists of Roebourne.

Mags Webster July 2021

1. ‘When the world was soft’ also spelled Ngurra-Nyujung Gamu 2. Also spelled Bundut 3. Yinjaa-Barni and Juluwarlu are situated in the town of Ieramugadu (Roebourne), while the smallest collective takes its name from the tiny community where its studio is based, at Cheeditha, just outside Yirramagardu (also spelled Ieramugadu). 4. Parts of the Yindjibarndi language were also given to each of the other groups making up the new nations. This is why languages spoken by people living in neighbouring country share similarities with the Yindjibarndi language. See Ngurra Warndurala Buluyugayi Wuyumarri: Exploring Yindjibarndi Country – Gregory Gorge (2008), and Wordick, (1982). 5. Roebourne was established in 1863 on the Harding River as a colonial staging point into the North-West hinterland. (Rijavec, 2010, 47)

“The two most important kinds of relationship in life are, firstly,

those between land and people and, secondly, those amongst people themselves, the second being always contingent upon the first. The land, and how we treat it, is what determines our humanness. Because land is sacred and must be looked after, the relation between people and land becomes the template for society and social relations. Therefore all meaning comes from land.” Kombumerri / Wakka Wakka philosopher Dr Mary Graham

Roebourne town from Mount Welcome, 2021

REFERENCES Cheedy, Banyji (Pansy). 2021. Artist story, courtesy of the artist and Juluwarlu Art Group.

2004. Know The Song, Know the Country: The Ngardangarli Story of Culture and History in Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi Country. Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation.

Cheedy, Jane. 2021. Artist story, courtesy of the artist and Juluwarlu Art Group.

2007. Ngurra Warndurala Buluyugayi: Exploring Yindjibarndi Country. Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation.

Graham, Mary. 2008. ‘Some Thoughts about the Philosophical Underpinnings of Aboriginal Worldviews.’ Australian Humanities Review.

2008. Ngurra Warndurala Buluyugayi Wuyumarri: Exploring Yindjibarndi Country – Gregory Gorge. Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation.

Hubert, Wendy. 2021. Artist story, courtesy of the artist and Juluwarlu Art Group.

Rijavec, Frank. 2010. Sovereign Voices: Leadership, alliance and communications in the Yindjibarndi fight for a dignified life amid the Pilbara resources boom – in the work of Juluwarlu Group of Roebourne. PhD Thesis, Murdoch University.

Jerrold, Maudie. 2020. Artist story, courtesy of the artist and Yinjaa-Barni Art.

Sandy, Allery. 2020. Artist story, courtesy of the artist and Yinjaa-Barni Art. Warrie, Kaye. 2021. Artist story, courtesy of the artist and Cheeditha Art Group. Warrie, Wendy. 2021. Artist story, courtesy of the artist and Cheeditha Art Group. Wordick, Frank J.F. 1982. The Yindjibarndi Language. Pacific Linguistics, Series C (71). Australian National University.

Cheeditha ART GROUP

Cheeditha Art Group is an art cooperative based in Cheeditha, a small Aboriginal community just outside the town of Roebourne. The community was established in the 1970s by a group of Elders who camped in the old woolshed buildings of Mt Welcome Station. In 1985, with the support of the Western Australian Government, houses were built and the community has now grown to around 60 people. Art-making in Roebourne originated with members of this community. In 2002 the Bujee Nhoor-Pu project was set up in the historic Galbraith Store at Cossack (Bajinhurrba), supporting the production and sale of artwork. The success of the Bujee Nhoor-Pu project spread to the broader Roebourne community and these founding artists formed several other independent art groups, which reflect the cultural diversity of the Roebourne area. Cheeditha Art Group was established in 2014 and its members include those who were part of the Bujee Nhoor-Pu project and those who are relatives of the art project’s founders. The group showcases the culture and creativity of the Yindjibarndi, Kariyarra, Ngarluma and Guruma people. Artists work across a range of mediums which reflect a diversity of skills and interest, with acrylic paint on canvas practised as the main artform.

Cheeditha Community, 2021

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Kaye Warrie is a Yindjibarndi woman living in Cheeditha community. Kaye is the daughter of Yilbie Warrie and Bridget Jacob Snowball, is one of seven siblings, and is a twin sister to fellow Cheeditha artist Wendy Warrie. As one of seven siblings, Kaye’s artworks sometimes refer to the Bunggali Sisters (Seven Sisters) story, as well as to the land and colours she sees in the Country. Kaye’s mother used to take Kaye and her siblings out on Country, showing and telling the stories of the marks on the land. The thurlawirdingbirding (Sturt Pea) often features in Kaye’s work, inspired by her strong childhood memories of her mother giving her and her siblings the flowers to suck out the sweetness. Kaye has been painting for 15 years and has exhibited her work at the Cossack Art Awards, Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre, Colours of our Country, and Ngurra Nyingu, and is a finalist in the 2021 Jury Art Prize at the Courthouse Gallery in Port Hedland.

Kaye Warrie Born:

1970

Language:

Yindjibarndi

“I like doing the Desert Sturt Peas. That always brings back when we were kids. We were always out bush. We never used to get any lollies or anything like that. But Mum would give us the Desert Sturt Pea flowers to suck on, and there’s a little bit of honey in there. When we were kids we’d always go out bush and get those things, bush medicines and food. Our Elders teach us about that, and we teach our kids and our grandchildren. We show them what we were taught and what to do and what not to do.” Kaye Warrie, 2021

Kaye Warrie, 2020

Thurlawirdingbirding 2021 - Kaye Warrie Acrylic on canvas 59 x 79 cm Thurlawirdingbirding 2021 - Kaye Warrie Acrylic on canvas 57 x 78 cm

On the road to Cheeditha community, 2021

Sharon Warrie Born:

1974

Language: Yindjibarndi Kariyarra

Sharon is a Yindjibarndi and Karriyarra woman and is the younger sister of fellow Cheeditha artists Kaye and Wendy Warrie. Sharon is the daughter of Yilbie Warrie and Bridget Jacob Snowball and is one of seven siblings. She began painting with the Bujee Nhoorr-Pu art group in the early 2000s alongside her mother and sisters and today paints at Cheeditha Art Group. She paints the landscape around her Country, with a particular focus on Millstream and the waterholes along the Fortescue River. Sharon is known for her strong ochre colours that reflect the colours used in body painting for ceremony. Sharon has been featured in exhibitions across Perth and the Pilbara, including Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre, Colours of our Country, Ngurra Nyingu and Cossack Art Awards.

Stepping Stones 2021 - Sharon Warrie Acrylic on canvas 162 x 115 cm Stepping Stones 2021 - Sharon Warrie Acrylic on canvas 112 x 85 cm

Sharon Warrie, 2020

Wendy Warrie with her artwork High Tide, 2021

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Wendy Warrie Born:

1970

Language: Yindjibarndi Kariyarra

Wendy Warrie is a Yindjibarndi and Kariyarra woman living in Cheeditha community. Wendy is the daughter of Yilbie Warrie and Bridget Jacob Snowball and is one of seven siblings and twin sister to Kaye. Wendy began painting in 1999 through Roebourne TAFE and the Bujee NhoorrPu project in Cossack. Today, Wendy paints alongside her sisters Kaye and Sharon Warrie at Cheeditha Art Group. Wendy’s artwork focuses on the creation stories of the Yindjibarndi people, particularly the story of the Barrimirndi (Rainbow Serpent), and the landscapes of her Country and around her home in Cheeditha. She has found recognition for her mesmeric line paintings that reference tidal flows, rugged coastlines and mountain ranges. Wendy has been featured in exhibitions across Perth and the Pilbara, including Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre, Colours of our Country, Ngurra Nyingu, Cossack Art Awards, and has been selected as a finalist in the 2021 Jury Art Prize at the Courthouse Gallery in Port Hedland.

Wendy Warrie, 2021

“My mother always did landscapes, the line ones. Me, I paint my story, about the Rainbow Snake from Millstream. I like the story. And I paint seasides. Rugged coastlines. I always use blues and browns. Sometimes greens. I paint because I like it. I’ve got no favourites. I like them all.” High Tide 2021 - Wendy Warrie Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm

Wendy Warrie, 2021

Ngardamarri After the Sunrise 2021 - Wendy Warrie Acrylic on canvas 105 x 105 cm

After the High Tide 2021 - Wendy Warrie Acrylic on canvas 93 x 90 cm

Juluwarlu ART GROUP

Juluwarlu Art Group is a collective of Yindjibarndi artists who celebrate Yindjibarndi Country, culture and language through a diverse range of artistic practices. The collective is based in Ieramagadu (Roebourne), while the ancestral homeland of the artists, Yindjibarndi Country, surrounds the nearby Millstream Tablelands and Fortescue River area. Juluwarlu Art Group was established in 2016 in response to requests from members of the Yindjibarndi community who saw the potential of art as a way of further sharing and protecting Yindjibarndi stories, culture and language. Juluwarlu Art Group now provides significant support and services to over 30 artists, offering opportunities for skills development and enabling them to share their artworks and stories with a wider audience, thereby earning an income while expressing, maintaining, and celebrating Yindjibarndi culture. While predominantly working within the practice of acrylic painting on canvas, Juluwarlu artists have become known for their diverse art practices, which also include carved Yarranga Marni boards and scratchboards, wooden artefacts, fibre works, jewellery, and works on paper.

Juluwarlu Art Group, 2020

“When I started to do art I found it really healing. Art is an expression of how you are, I suppose. I like bright colours. It reflects a brighter picture. It’s not dull or gloomy. It’s happy....[and] that’s the person I am.” Tootsie Daniel, 2021

Many Rivers 2021 - Tootsie Daniel Acrylic on canvas 74.5 x 98.5 cm

Ngardamarri Untitled 2020 - Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy Acrylic on canvas 94 x 96 cm

Birndirri (Evening star) 2021 - Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy Acrylic on canvas 149 x 116 cm

Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy is a Yindjibarndi Elder, cultural custodian, and respected artist. She is the daughter of Yindjibarndi teacher and Elder, Ned Mayaringburngu Cheedy, and renowned Yindjibarndi plant specialist, Cherry Cheedy. Born out bush on Coolawanyah Station, Banyji grew up with her parents and siblings at Hooley Station and moved to Roebourne in 1959. Since 2010, Banyji has been painting with acrylic on canvas, and more recently has extended her art practice to include stitched works on linen, stitched acrylic paintings, woven fibre works, and Yarranga Marni works on carved boards. Her art celebrates the plants, animals, water and creation stories of Yindjibarndi Country and culture. Banyji’s artworks have been featured in exhibitions in Perth including Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre, Hanging by a Thread at Holmes à Court Gallery, Colours of our Country, and Ngurra Nyingu, and she has been a regular finalist at Cossack Art Awards, winning Best Work by a WA Indigenous Artist in 2014.

“Being an artist for me, I enjoy being with other people. Doing different things, seeing different art pieces that people create. Sharing ideas… it inspires me... I paint memories of the things that I grew up with and it gives me a sense of satisfaction in my spirit. Not being able to go back to homeland, it’s about having that on canvas. I have lots of memories that are good ones. They bring back a sense of peace in your spirit.”

Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy Born:

1951

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy, 2021

Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy at the Ngurin River, 2021

Sisters Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy and Jane Cheedy at the Ngurin River, 2021

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Jane Cheedy Born:

1956

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Jane Cheedy is a respected Yindjibarndi Elder, cultural custodian, linguist, and artist. Jane is the daughter of Yindjibarndi teacher and Elder, Ned Mayaringburngu Cheedy, and renowned Yindjibarndi plant specialist, Cherry Cheedy, and is the younger sister of fellow Juluwarlu artist Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy. Born at Roebourne District Hospital, Jane grew up on the Roebourne Reserve and went to high school in Perth. Jane is dedicated to preserving and

sharing the Yindjibarndi language, and has worked for many years as a Yindjibarndi language teacher at Wickham High School and Roebourne Primary School, and as an Aboriginal Education Officer at Roebourne District High School. Jane began working with Juluwarlu Art Group in 2017 and has become known for her carved Yarranga Marni boards and scratchboards, as well as for her acrylic paintings on canvas and embroidered works. Jane’s artworks often feature written Yindjibarndi text, oral recordings of songs, and depictions of Yindjibarndi plants, animals and important sites. Jane has been featured in Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre and Hanging by a Thread at Holmes à Court Gallery, and is a finalist in the 2021 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

“I just started painting in the last couple of years. I love doing the etching. We call it marni boards. You have to work out the lines. Some are fine lines and some are deep and strong. At first, I just did a couple of etchings on the board and from there it slowly developed. I do local plants or animals, barramundi, long-neck turtles. I even had a go at doing birds. I have a painting about the Yindjibarndi ngurra: the animals that come from the land. The animals that I drew were the kangaroo and the emu and the possum. All these animals that come from the land, they are what the land give us. They come from the ngurra and they are the yinya [given] to us.” Jane Cheedy, 2021

Jane Cheedy at the Ngurin River, 2021 Yindjibarndi Ngurra 2020 - Jane Cheedy Etching on Yarranga Marni board 70 x 65 cm Brolgas 2021 - Jane Cheedy Etching on Yarranga Marni board 70 x 65 cm

Ngardamarri Bush Food 2021 - Jane Cheedy Etching on scratchboard 50 x 40 cm Jirda Thalu (Increasing Site) 2021 - Jane Cheedy Etching on scratchboard 50 x 40 cm Yaarnkgarra Wuya (Two Brolgas) 2021 - Jane Cheedy Etching on scratchboard 50 x 40 cm

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Tootsie Daniel Born:

1953

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Tootsie Daniel is a respected Elder and holder of Yindjibarndi cultural knowledge from the Millstream Tableland. Tootsie was born at Yarraloola Station near Pannawonica and grew up in Onslow, living at the Old Reserve and the Onslow Hostel. After attending high school at the United Aboriginal Mission Hostel in Derby, she returned to Onslow and worked as a domestic cleaner at the Hostel and later at Yarraloola Station and Nanutarra Station with her extended family. Tootsie has lived in Roebourne since 1970 and is a committed contributor to the Roebourne community. Tootsie is a founding member of Juluwarlu Art Group, is a board member and broadcaster at Ngaarda Media, is involved in song, video and performance arts with Big hART, and holds a Graduate Diploma in Aboriginal Community Development from Curtin University. Tootsie began painting 10 years ago as a means of healing after the death of her son, and depicts Yindjibarndi stories, rivers, plants and seasons.

“The Country got feelings too, and when you look after Country, Country look after you. It’s one of them spiritual things that we believe as Yindjibarndi people. When you go on your Country, it’s like home is calling you. Like you’re back home again. You just want to stay there a couple of days. A visit on Country is really rewarding. It brings you back.” Tootsie Daniel with her painting at the Ngurin River, 2020

Tootsie Daniel, 2021

Many Rivers 2021 - Tootsie Daniel Acrylic on canvas 81 x 77 cm

Untitled 2020 - Tootsie Daniel Acrylic on canvas 51 x 68 cm

Wendy Hubert and Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy at Juluwarlu Art Group, 2020

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Alice Guiness Born:

1950s

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Alice Guiness is a Yindjibarndi woman who was born at Goodabinyia. Alice has been painting for many years at art centres across Roebourne. Her work features the Burndud/Bundut circle, an important story in Yindjibarndi culture which relates to Birdarra Law. Alice paints the Burndud in different styles and recently has been experimenting with painting the Burndud on paper. Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy on her cousin, Alice:

“Alice started painting before me. She paints the Burndud circle. It’s a dance in our traditions. She does that a lot, in a lot of different styles and colours… The Burndud circle is a story for our law dance. Birdarra Law. It’s a unique law and it’s the only one and it belongs to the Yindjibarndi people. So she does that Burndud circle with that in mind.” Alice Guiness, 2021

Banyji (Pansy) Cheedy, 2021

Burndud Ground 2021 - Alice Guiness Acrylic on Arches paper 108 x 108 cm

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Denise Kelly Born:

1978

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Denise Kelly is an emerging Yindjibarndi artist who has lived in Roebourne since birth. Denise has been painting with Juluwarlu Art Group for two years. Through her practice, Denise draws on themes of her relationships with rain, yinda (deep permanent pools), and ijarri (spings) that bring life to the plants, animals, fish and insects that have nourished Yindjibarndi people for generations.

Denise Kelly, 2020

Bunggarli-Yarra 2021 - Denise Kelly Acrylic on canvas 86 x 88 cm

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Wendy Hubert Born:

1954

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Wendy Hubert is a respected Yindjibarndi Elder, cultural custodian, artist and linguist. Born at Red Hill Station on Guruma Country, Wendy lived at Red Hill Station, Minderoo Station and Onslow before settling in Roebourne. Wendy met her husband in Roebourne through her work in community health and together they had three sons. Wendy began painting with Juluwarlu Art Group in 2019, and has become a dedicated artist known for her landscape paintings depicting scenes from her childhood and featuring important places on Yindjibarndi and Guruma Country. Wendy has exhibited her artworks in the Pilbara and Perth including multiple Cossack Art Awards and Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Arts Centre.

“I know my Ngurra. I know its Laws. I am a Yindjibarndi Custodian, old now, but strong in my thinking and my life.” Wendy Hubert, 2021

Wendy Hubert, 2020

Narda - Marda Ngurra 2020 - Wendy Hubert Acrylic on canvas 122 x 94 cm

Tip of the Burrup 2020 - Wendy Hubert Acrylic on canvas 87 x 61 cm

“I got the Country in my head. This the main thing I got. I got skills in my hand, which I never actually saw, you know? I started noticing it, how this hand never fail me. And I do the great art. I didn’t know I could do that! It was so easy for me. It’s coming all in place and I am really happy and bubbly, you know? I got this great right hand and I got the greatest mind here.” Wendy Hubert, 2021

Wendy Hubert painting at Juluwarlu Art Group, 2020

Yinjaa-Barni ART

Yinjaa-Barni Art is a collective of artists who predominantly belong to the Yindjibarndi language group and whose ancestral homelands surround the Fortescue River and Millstream Tablelands. YinjaaBarni is Yindjibarndi for ‘staying together’. The group began painting at Roebourne’s Pilbara Aboriginal Church in 2004, before moving to the heritage-listed Dalgety House on the banks of the Harding River in 2007. Yinjaa-Barni Art is a notfor-profit Aboriginal Corporation governed by an Aboriginal board of directors and run by an executive manager. The Yinjaa-Barni artists create deeply personal works of collective memory, rendering the wildflowers, river systems and landforms of their country onto canvas. For the senior members of the group, art is an important means of expressing and relaying love for their Country, their culture, and the flora of the region. They use this, along with storytelling, as a way of passing on their knowledge to the younger generations, who are rapidly gaining recognition as artists in their own right.

Yinjaa-Barni Art, 2020

Melissa Sandy painting at Yinjaa-Barni Art, 2021

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Aileen Sandy Born:

1951

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Aileen Sandy is a member of a prominent family of Yindjibarndi artists. Aileen’s mother comes from the Millstream Tablelands, and her father’s Country is around Mt Florence Station. Aileen’s artwork is known for its distinctive straight lines, circles and dots, and depicts her traditional Country around the Millstream Tablelands and the Fortescue River. Incorporating influences from basketry and weaving, Aileen’s works display a blend of dotting and more contemporary influences. Earth reds and the varied colours that course across the Fortescue rock faces can be found in her work, often with river sand incorporated into her paint to achieve a textured effect on canvas. Since the start of her practice in early 2007, Aileen’s works have won the Cossack Art Awards’ Northwest Landscape Painting category (2010) and Painting by a Pilbara Indigenous Artist (2013), been acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia (2011), and commissioned by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in Perth (2019). Aileen’s massive canvas Colours Through the Rocks hangs behind the concierge desk in the Ritz-Carlton foyer.

Aileen Sandy, 2021

Jiirda (Increasing Site) 2021 - Aileen Sandy Acrylic and texture on canvas 91 x 91 cm Untitled 2021 - Aileen Sandy Acrylic and texture on canvas 92.5 x 73.5 cm

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Aileen Sandy painting at Yinjaa-Barni Art, 2021

Colours Through the Rocks 2021 - Aileen Sandy Acrylic and texture on canvas Six panels, 188 x 258 cm

Ngardamarri In the Beginning When the World was Soft 2021 - Marlene Harold Acrylic and texture on canvas 91 x 91 cm

In the Beginning When the World was Soft 2021 - Marlene Harold Acrylic and texture on canvas 103.5 x 104 cm

Marlene Harold was born at Mt Florence Station where her parents, Ned Harold and Hilda Fishook, worked at the time. Throughout her life she has spent time living in the Kimberley and also at Mulga Downs Station and Wittenoom Gorge in the Pilbara. Marlene started painting in late 2006. Her artwork is characterised by its impressionist look, delicate mixing, layering technique, and the fluidity between highly charged colours and subtler blends. Marlene employs a variety of techniques such as dot painting with splatter and stick work to create her striking, contemporary renderings of sites and ancestral stories from her Country. She is represented in many private collections in Australia, and has been acquired by the Parliament House Collection Western Australia, the Holmes à Court Collection, and City of Joondalup. She has exhibited her artworks in solo and group shows in the Pilbara, Perth, Sydney and Singapore and has won prizes at the Cossack Art Awards for Painting by a Pilbara Indigenous Artist (2011 and 2014). In 2011, a painting by Marlene was chosen to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Australia for that year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Marlene Harold Born:

1956

Language:

Yindjibarndi

“According to Yindjibarndi law, in the beginning the sky was very low. When the creation spirits, Marrga (The Spirit God of The Land), arose from the ground they raised the sky and the world out of the ocean. This creation story is called Ngurra Nyujunnggamu (When the World was Soft). The Marrga (The Spirit God of The Land) gave names and form to the country and then to all the birds and animals. Finally, they created the Ngardangarli (Aboriginal people). This is a dreamtime story handed down by our ancestors.”

Marlene Harold, 2021

Marlene Harold, 2020

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Maudie Jerrold

Maudie Jerrold, 2021

Coolabah Seeds 2012 - Maudie Jerrold Acrylic on canvas 91 x 91 cm The Seagulls and Cormack Birds 2021 - Maudie Jerrold Acrylic on canvas 88 x 69 cm

Born:

1950

Language:

Yindjibarndi

A Yindjibarndi Elder and founding member of one of the region’s first art groups at Bujinhurrba (Cossack), Maudie Jerrold is part of the backbone of Pilbara Aboriginal art. Born in Hooley Creek near Wittenoom and raised in Roebourne, Maudie has witnessed and helped guide her community through dramatic lifestyle changes. Maudie’s colourful and intricately patterned artwork relates to the landscapes of Yindjibarndi and Ngarluma Country of the Pilbara, paying specific attention to the flora of the area and often depicting plants or flowers that have a medicinal or ceremonial purpose. In 2006 Maudie was selected to visit Florence, Italy as part of Antica Terra Pulsante, an exhibition showcasing art from the Pilbara. In 2007 she became a member of Yinjaa-Barni Art, bringing to the group her cultural knowledge and painting experience. Maudie is represented in both public and private collections in Australia and internationally and has won prizes at the Cossack Art Awards, including Best Artwork by Western Australian Aboriginal Artist (2009 and 2012). Her work has been exhibited in the Pilbara, Perth, Sydney, Singapore, Italy and Spain and has been acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia (2015).

“When you go out Country you might get the feeling that you’re back at home. I think it’s a good thing. Sometimes when I go out I get that feeling, like I am most welcome, because I know the country very well.” Maudie Jerrold, 2020

Ngardamarri Allery Sandy, 2021 After the Rain 2021 - Allery Sandy Acrylic and texture on canvas 150 x 75 cm Hidden Creek 2021 - Allery Sandy Acrylic and texture on canvas 121 x 74 cm

Allery Sandy Born:

1955

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Allery Sandy is an accomplished painter, educator, performer and community leader. Her distinguishing aerial perspectives typically celebrate the wildflowers, creeks, rivers, and bush foods of her Country. Allery’s artworks build on underpainting with sponge and brush work, creating a layer of fine dot work, and crafting a sense of movement and depth of field on the canvas. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is represented in private and public collections including the Art Gallery of Western

Australia. Allery regularly exhibits at private galleries in Fremantle and Sydney, and has won a number of prizes at the Cossack Art Awards including Landscape Painting, Oil or Acrylic (2007), Painting by a West Australian Artist (2008), Painting by West Australian Indigenous Artist (2014), and Best Overall (2020). In 2012, Allery was a finalist in the 29th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for her painting Country in Spring. Her works have been collected by Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Flinders University Art Museum, Parliament House Collection of Western Australia, Australian Embassy in Yangon, and Restore Hope Foundation. In addition to her work as an artist and Chairperson of Yinjaa-Barni Art, Allery is a passionate communicator of her culture. In 2013, Allery performed in the premiere season of Big hART’s

Hipbone Sticking Out in Canberra, a performance narrating Indigenous stories of Australia by the people of Roebourne.

“Yinjaa-Barni is working together, doing things together. That’s where we got our Yinjaa-Barni name from. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, if your heart is in painting and working together. I go for looking at the Country now for what it is and the beauty of the colours and that’s what really stirs my spirit. It’s just my way of telling my story about the Country. Further down the track, when I am no longer here, maybe one of my grandchildren will take over. To see that – that would be my joy.” Allery Sandy, 2020

Allery Sandy at Yinjaa-Barni Art, 2020

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Melissa Sandy was born in Port Hedland and is based in Roebourne. Melissa’s mother’s Country surrounds the Millstream Tablelands, while her father hails from Adelaide. Her acrylic on canvas works are recognisable for their meticulous selection of colour, depicting her Country as well as narratives of personal meaning. These contemporary artworks often use fine dot work to share aerial perspectives of wildflowers or plants. Melissa began painting with Yinjaa-Barni Art in 2006. Her artworks have been exhibited in group shows in Perth and the Pilbara, and in a solo show at Sydney’s Chalk Horse Gallery in 2011. She has won several prizes at the Cossack Art Awards, including Painting by a Western Australian Indigenous Artists (2008) and Painting by a Pilbara Indigenous Artist (2018), and she has had her work acquired by Flinders University Art Museum in South Australia (2014).

Melissa Sandy Born:

1977

Language:

Yindjibarndi

“I didn’t believe I was an artist to start with. I actually just did a painting and thought nothing of it until someone came in and purchased it. As a child you imagine being a doctor or a nurse or a vet or a model, but to become something that’s so meaningful to myself and to the people who purchase the artwork, that’s something I’m really grateful that I found myself doing. Being recognised as an artist is amazing. People work hard for what they do, for their money, for their families. And as artists we work hard. It may not be much, but when we get our stories on the canvas, at the end of the day, when you look at a finished art piece. It’s beautiful.” Melissa Sandy, 2020

Sturt Peas 2021 - Melissa Sandy Acrylic on canvas 150 x 75 cm

Melissa Sandy, 2021

Sturt Peas 2021 - Melissa Sandy Acrylic on canvas 150 x 75 cm

Sisters Justina Willis and Melissa Sandy, 2021

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Justina Willis Born:

1981

Language:

Yindjibarndi

Justina Willis is a Yindjibarndi artist who was born in Leigh Creek, South Australia and is now based in Roebourne. Her mother’s country is the Millstream Tablelands and her father is from Adelaide. Justina is the sister of fellow Yinjaa-Barni artist Melissa Sandy and began painting in 2006. She paints the Country in a unique, meticulously planned style to achieve the effect and composition she desires, using fine brush strokes and dot work over an abstract underlayer of rich colours that are inspired by the Pilbara. While the bush and the colours of the Country provide the inspiration for Justina’s paintings, she also experiments with optical colour mixing to create a third dimension within her work. Justina has exhibited her artworks in the Pilbara and Perth. She has also won several awards, including Cossack Art Awards for Best Art Work Pilbara Artist (2013), Emerging Indigenous Artist Prize (2008 and 2010) and the Flora and Fauna Prize (2019).

Justina Willis, 2021

“I love painting. I go out bush a lot and I can express the experience in my paintings. It gives me great pleasure to see the finished work.”

Purple Mulla Mulla 2021 - Justina Willis Acrylic on canvas 61 x 45.5 cm

Justina Willis, 2020

Untitled 2021 - Justina Willis Acrylic on Canvas 105 x 79 cm

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Independent Artist

Chenise Cameron

Chenise Cameron, 2021

Jump of Joy 2020 - Chenise Cameron Photographic print 50 x 75 cm Lost and Found 2020 - Chenise Cameron Photographic print 50 x 75 cm

Born:

2004

Language:

Wongatha

Chenise Cameron is an emerging Wongatha photographer living in the Pilbara town of Wickham and attending Roebourne District High School. Prior to moving to Wickham, Chenise lived in Port Hedland and, before that, Mount Margaret Mission where she grew up. It was here in the Mission where Chenise was first introduced to the craft, taking part in a photo shoot by a visiting photographer. In 2020, Chenise was able to pursue this interest through workshops with Big hART and FORM, and has been an avid photographer ever since. Chenise has recently exhibited at Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists at Fremantle Art Centre and Our Ngurra at Cossack. Chenise’s photographic work tends to focus on portraiture of her family and friends, as well as images of Country. She hopes that sharing pictures of Country will encourage people to respect these places, and sees her photography as a process of documenting important moments in time that can be reflected back on.

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ABOUT

FORM FORM is an independent, non-profit cultural organisation established in 1968 that develops and advocates excellence in creativity and artistic practice in Western Australia. FORM sees creativity as a catalyst for positive change and shares the philosophy that the best, most vibrant places to live are ones that nurture dynamic creativity, showcase cultural diversity, insist on quality and are shaped with people in mind. FORM’s activities span highlevel artist development and exhibitions, place-making, social and multicultural engagement, cultural infrastructure development, Aboriginal art and cultural projects, research, and advocacy. These activities are connected by the exploration of artistic excellence and activation, whether through processes or outcomes. FORM is based in Perth, Western Australia. Since the late 2000s, FORM has also managed Hedland’s only Aboriginal artist collective: the Spinifex Hill Artists. This group of artists paints at the Spinifex Hill Studio in South Hedland.

Ngurin River, 2021

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FORM building a state of creativity, inc. 39 Gugeri Street, Claremont, Western Australia, 6010 mail@form.net.au +61 8 9385 2200 Published by FORM building a state of creativity, July 2021. FORM would like to thank the artists, Elders and art centre staff at Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group and Yinjaa-Barni Art who made this exhibition possible. Photographs on pages 2-3, 7-10, 12-13, 15-18, 22-23, 27-30, 34, 36-38, 41-42, 48-49, 51, 53, 55-56, 58, 62, 64-65, 67 and 70-71 are by Claire Martin, courtesy of FORM with the exception of 38 which is courtesy of Juluwarlu Art Group. All artwork images by Taryn Giles and FORM. Photographs on pages 46-47 and 60-61 are by Bobbi Lockyer, courtesy of FORM. Photograph on page 68 is by Big hART. Catalogue essay by Mags Webster. Ngardamarri was curated by Annie McLoughlin in collaboration with Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group and Yinjaa-Barni Art, for FORM’s project space, The Goods Shed, Claremont, in 2021. Designed by Cinthya Lovin and Ryan Stephenson. Printed by Scott Print. © 2021. All rights reserved. Copyright for photographic images is held by FORM, Big hART, Juluwarlu Art Group and the individual photographers. Copyright for written content and this publication is held by FORM or the individual writers. www.form.net.au www.cheedithaart.com.au www.juluwarlu.com.au www.yinjaa-barni.com.au ISBN: 978-0-9944727-3-1 This book was conceived and written on Whadjuk Noongar Boodja (Country). FORM respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of this land, the Whadjuk Noongar people, and their Elders past, present, and emerging. We are grateful for the privilege of living and working on Noongar Boodja.

Exhibition initiated and managed by

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Project Partner

Gallery Partner

Government Support

Hospitality Partners