Stories of My Country

Stories of My Country

Salt Contemporary In partnership with Everywhen Artspace February 17- March 7, 2022

Text ©Susan McCulloch Design ©Lisa Reidy Images ©The artists Published by Everywhen Artspace & Salt Contemporary Art February 2022

Front: Priscilla Singer, Ngura (Country), 2021, acrylic on linen, 167 x 198 cm, Courtesy the artist and Iwantja Arts.

Left: Janet Golder Kngwarreye, Country, 2021, 200 x 98 cm (detail). Courtesy the artist.

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Vibrant colours, soft hues and natural materials of 40+ artworks from around Australia feature in Stories of My Country. Paintings include brilliantly coloured acrylics from the APY Lands of South Australia, the NT’s Utopia and Papunya, while the works in natural materials include barks and sculptures from North-East Arnhem Land and Central Australia.

Highlights include the lushly-coloured paintings of bush medicine and plants by Jeannie Mills Pwerle, sisters Janet and Belinda Golder Kngwarreye and Janet’s daughter Rochelle Bird Mbitjana; exuberant Central Australian landscapes by Selina Teece Pwerle; finely lined paintings by Puuni Brown Nungurrayi of Papunya and Tjulyata Kulyuru from Ernabella; textured barks from NE Arnhem Land by Muluymuluy Wirrpanda who details the plants of her country and mica-studded black sand barks by Djambit Wanambi. An early work by Wynne Prize winner Betty Pumani depicts the many stories and their creation sites of her country around Mimili in the APY Lands while fellow APY artist Priscilla Singer’s dynamic soft hued large painting called Ngura (Country) demonstrates the indivisible relationship between the artists’ stories of their country and the art they create.

Sculptures comprise wood and bark carvings from Central Australia, some with incised decorations burnt into the surface by hot metal wire; a group of small Mimih carvings from Western Arnhem Land; ceramics from the APY Lands’ Ernbella Arts and larrakitj (hollow log poles) from NE Arnhem Land.

Susan McCulloch February 2022

Ada Pula Beasley, My Country, 2021, linen, 100 x 94 cm | MM5676 | $2900 Born in 1951, Ada Pula Beasley’s country is the Eastern Desert, southeast of Tennant Creek. She depicts its trees, flowers, sandy red earth, and landforms with brilliant, yet soft, colouration.

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Anita Pumani, Antara – Maku Dreaming, 2021, acrylic on linen, 122 x 122 cm | MM5775 | $3200 From Mimili in the APY Lands, 40-year-old Anita Pumani is a talented third generation of famous women artists. Her paintings of the Indigenous Protected Area of Antara and its Maku (Witchetty Grub) dreaming have brought her work much attention.

Athena Nangala Granites, Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming), 2021, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 122 cm | MM5530 | $1600 Twenty-eight-year-old Athena Granites has inherited the rights to paint the Seven Sisters story from her late grandmother, the renowned painter Alma Nungarrayi Granites – depicting it in her own dynamic imagery.

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Belinda Golder Kngwarreye, Bush Flowers, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 95 x 152 cm | MM5658 | $3300 A talented younger generation artist from Utopia in the NT, Belinda Golder Kngwarreye uses a heavily loaded brush to create multi-layered paintings that sing with colour. She paints the flowers and bush plums sacred to the women of the region.

Belinda Golder Kngwarreye, Bush Flowers, 2021, acrylic on linen, 87 x 200 cm | MM5796 | $4700 A talented younger generation artist from Utopia in the NT, Belinda Golder Kngwarreye uses a heavily loaded brush to create multi-layered paintings that sing with colour. She paints the flowers and bush plums sacred to the women of the region.

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Bernadine Kemarre, Bush Medicine Leaves, 2021, acrylic on linen, 68 x 132 cm | MM5458 | $2200 Born in 1974, Bernadine Kemarre brilliantly captures the leaves used for bush medicine by the women of the community of Utopia with great finesse and an ever evolving palette.

Betty Pumani, APY Country, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 102 x 152 cm | MM5680 | $4200 Award winning 59-year-old artist Betty Pumani from Mimili in the APY Lands is best known for energetic paintings in which she expresses the beauty, power, and resilience of the Indigenous Protected Site of Antara. Two times winner of the Best Painting Award at the NATSIAAs, in 2017 Betty Pumani won the Wynne Prize at AGNSW. A top collectible artist, this early work depicts the many features and creation sites of Betty’s country as though one were taking a drive through the lands.

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Charmaine Pwerle, Awelye Atnwengerrp, 2021, acrylic on linen, 118 x 94 cm | MM5779 | $3500 Mid-40-year-old Anmatyerre painter Charmaine Pwerle’s mother is Barbara Weir and her grandmother was Minnie Pwerle – the rights to whose stories she has inherited. Here she is depicting bush melons and the ‘Awelye’ or women’s ceremonial bodypaint design that represent them.

Debbie Napaljarri Brown, Wanakiji Jukurrpa (Bush Tomato Dreaming), 2021, acrylic on linen, 122 x 107 cm | MM5572 | $2700 Young generation Western Desert artist Debbie Napaljarri Brown learnt to paint from her famous grandfather, the late Pegleg Tjampitjinpa and her grandmother Margaret Napaljarri Brown. In her paintings of the bush tomato dreaming she represents the indigenous plant as both a food source and the dreaming story of her lands to the north of Yuendumu.

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Dhambit #2 Wanambi, Gudultja with sand from Yalanba, 2020, earth pigments on stringybark, 139 x 64 cm | MM5248 | $3400 Born in 1970, Dhambit #2 Wanambi is from NE Arnhem land and comes from a long line of established artists. Her distinctive paintings and poles depict the clash of waters and the creation stories of Trial Bay where the saltwater meets the fresh – and are memorable for her use of the mica-studded black sand found in one spot and permitted for use by her family members only.

Dianne Golding, Minymaku Tjukurpa – Women’s Law, 2021, burnt etching on plywood (box framed), 90 x 90 cm | MM5695 | $3200 Ngaatjatjarra woman Dianne Golding was born in 1962 and comes from Warakurna in WA. An experienced carver and painter here she depicts women’s stories in designs called walka with the technique specific to artists of Central Australia in which the designs are burnt into wood with wire heated on a wood fire.

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Emily Pwerle, Awelye Antwengerrp, 2018, acrylic on linen, 70 x 70 cm | MM5397 | $1600 Now in her late 90s, Anmatyerre painter Emily Pwerle is one of the important family group of Utopia artists which includes her late sister Minnie Pwerle, her niece Barbara Weir and great nieces Charmaine Pwerle and Teresa Purla. Her colourful paintings represent the designs women paint on their bodies for ceremonies.

Esther Haywood Petyarre, Bush Leaves, 2021, acrylic on linen, 202 x 99 cm | MM5661 | $3800 Born in 1982, Esther Haywood Petyarre is the grand daughter of healer and painter Gloria Petyarre. She learnt to paint from her grandmother and has inherited the rights to paint her grandmother’s famous depictions of bush medicine leaves, and the dreaming stories they represent.

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Gordon Inkatji, Piltati, 2010, acrylic on linen, 116.3 x 142.6 cm | MM5751 | $6500 Gordon Ikantji (c. 1930-2016) was a senior painter, cultural and religious leader at the APY community of Ernabella after having lived a highly traditional early life on his Pitjantjatjara lands. His main painting theme, shown in leading galleries around Australia was concerned with the highly significant creation site of Pilati and the events relating to the Rainbow Serpent that occurred in and around the rock hole.

Janet Golder Kngwarreye, Country, 2021, acrylic on linen, 98 x 200 cm | MM5786 | $4900 Born in 1973, Janet Golder Kngwarreye is a mid-career artist of the Utopia region. Here she celebrates her country through depicting a number of its key women’s creation stories. These include bush melon, bush yam (of which she is a traditional custodian) and women’s ceremonies (Awelye) in which women paint their bodies and perform songs and dances to bring fertility to the lands.

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Janet Golder Kngwarreye, Nyterrm – Bush Bean Leaf, 2021, acrylic on linen, 118 x 95 cm | MM5826 | $2500 Born in 1973, Janet Golder Kngwarreye is a mid-career artist of the Utopia region. Here she celebrates her country through depiction of the Bush Bean Leaf - an important traditional medicine and celebrated also in women’s ceremonies.

Jeannie Mills Pwerle, Yam Dreaming, 2021, acrylic on linen, 150 x 190 cm | MM5522 | $6900 An established and highly respected Alyawarre artist from the Utopia region, Jeannie Mills Pwerle is a traditional healer as well as artist. Using several colours on the same brushstroke, she skilfully represents the root system and seeds of the native yam which grows in her country. A much-collected food, the yam also has deep ceremonial significance for Alyawarre women.

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Lulu Pitjara Teece, My Father’s Country – Seed Dreaming, 2021, acrylic on linen, 60 x 90 cm | MM5793 | $2200 Born in 1953, Alyawarre woman Lulu Pitjara Teece is a cultural leader and painter, whose landscapes depict her father’s country of Ampilatwatja. Her daughter is painter Selina Teece Pwerle.

Mary Brumby, Ipi Tjuta (Many Breasts), 2021, acrylic on linen, 152 x 122 cm | MM5635 | $3500 Yankunytjatjara woman Mary Brumby was born in 1968 and lived a bush life based at Indulkana in the APY Lands. A leading ceremonial dancer she paints the designs used by women for their traditional ceremonial dancing.

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Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Grandmother’s Country and Women’s Country, 2021, acrylic on linen, 136 x 211.3 cm | MM5605 | $7900 Michelle Possum Nungurrayi is an Anmatyerre artist born in 1970 at Mt Allan, NT. She is the youngest daughter of the famous Papunya artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and sister to Gabriella Possum. A highly talented artist, Michelle paints Women’s Dreamings of her homelands in a vibrant and dynamic style.

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda, Bulwutja (Muluymuluy), 2021, ochres on bark, 120 x 68 cm | MM5409 | $5400 NE Arnhem Land Yolngu artist Muluymuluy Wirrpanda, born in 1959 is the younger sister of the well-known late artist Mulkun Wirrpanda. As with her sister Muluymuluy has a strong interest in recording the (sometimes endangered) plants of her region in finely detailed ochres on bark. Here she depicts the water yam – significant in both ceremonies and as a healthy bush food.

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Natalea Holmes Pula, My Country, 2021, acrylic on linen, 69 x 100 cm | MM5675 | $1800 Born in 1982, Alywarre speaker Natalea Holmes Pula is a talented young generation artist who depicts the country of Antarrengeny, north of Utopia- inspired by the designs she observes in the native flora and fauna and the women’s ceremonies that pay tribute to them.

Priscilla Singer, Ngura (Country), 2021, acrylic on linen, 167 x 198 cm | MM5637 | $7500 Yankunytjatjara speaker Priscilla Singer is an educator and painter at Indulkana in the APY Lands. As an artist she has worked in lino cut and batik making as well as painting. In recent years she has established herself as an exceptional painter and a leader of women’s collaborative projects. Her painting depicts Ngura (Country) which depict both the land’s geographical elements as well as the artist’s personal, historical and cultural connections.

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Puuni Brown Nungarrayi, Kapi Tjukurrpa, 2021, acrylic on linen, 122 x 152 cm | MM5590 | $4400 Papunya artist Puuni Brown was born in 1979 and grew up at Papunya, spending many hours watching her mother Isobel Gorey paint. Puuni continues to reinvent her mother’s Kapi Tjukurrpa (Water Dreaming) with a style distinctly her own.

Rochelle Bird Mbitjana, Bush Yam Dreaming, 2021, acrylic on linen, 88 x 94 cm | MM5792 | $1700 Rochelle Bird Mbitjana is a talented young emerging artist from Utopia. The eldest child of leading Utopia artist Janet Golder Kngwarreye, she paints the many stories of her mother’s country.

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Roseanne Morton Petyarre, Bush Plum, 2021, acrylic on linen, 106 x 60 cm | MM5678 | $1200 Next generation Utopia painter, Roseanne Morton Petyarre is the daughter of leading artist Gracie Pwerle Morton. She paints the seeds of the bush plum which is both a major food source for people of the region and an important creation story.

Rosie Ngwarraye Ross, Sugarbag Dreaming, 2020, acrylic on linen, 91 x 61 cm | MM5164 | $1600 Born in 1951, Rosie Ngwarreye Ross is a senior artist of the Ampilatwatja community, NT. She paints the flowers and leaves used for bush medicine. Sugarbag is a name of both the honey made by the native bees and also for the sweet nectar that comes from the big yellow flowers of the “tarrkarr” trees.

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Sarah Napurrurla Leo, Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) – Puyurru, 2021, acrylic on linen, 91 x 76 cm | MM5815 | $1700 Born in 1971 Sarah Napurrula Leo is a talented mid generation Warlpiri artist from the Western Desert. Here she depicts the site of Puyurru, west of Yuendumu in ancestral creation times. Here, in usually dry creek beds, two rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm that travelled across the country from east to west, creating rockholes and water courses.

Selina Kulitja, Minyma Kutjara, 2018, acrylic on plywood, 15 x 15 x 9 cm | MM5700 | $1200 Born in 1972 Selina Kulitja is a senior cultural and health leader, land management advisor and chair of her art centre Maruku Arts at Mutijulu. Here she is depicting Minyma Kutjara – Two Women ancestors whose journeys traversed her traditional lands during the creation period.

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Selina Teece Pwerle, My Father’s Country, 2021, acrylic on linen, 120 x 90 cm | MM5785 | $4200 Selina Teece Pwerle was born in 1977 in her traditional country of Antarrengeny in Alyawarre country north of the Utopia region 240 km north east of Alice Springs. Growing up surrounded by famous artists, she started painting at a young age and has developed an impressive range of styles and finesse. Her brilliantly coloured, intricately detailed landscapes depict her country as it often is – filled with wildflowers and vibrant trees, sands and sky.

Selina Teece Pwerle, Antarrangeny, 2021, acrylic on linen, 90 x 180 cm | MM5513 | $5900 Selina Teece Pwerle was born in 1977 in her traditional country of Antarrengeny in Alyawarre country north of the Utopia region 240 km north east of Alice Springs. Growing up surrounded by famous artists, she started painting at a young age and has developed an impressive range of styles and finesse. Her brilliantly coloured, intricately detailed landscapes depict her country as it often is – filled with wildflowers and vibrant trees, sands and sky.

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Steven Jupurrula Nelson, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Common Brush Tail Possum Dreaming), 2020, acrylic on linen, 76 x 183 cm | MM5086 | $3900 Born in 1978, Steven began painting at Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu in late 2014 after working at the art centre for some time. He typically paints ‘janganpa Jukurrpa’ (brush-tail possum Dreaming) from his mother’s side. Steven’s abstract works show a brilliant use of colour and have become highly sought after by collectors and art enthusiasts Australia-wide.

Teresa Purla, Dancing Lines, 2021, acrylic on linen, 109 x 109 cm | MM5755 | $2400 An Anmatyere artist from the Utopia region, Teresa Purla was born in 1963. Her grandmother was the celebrated painter the late Minnie Pwerle and her mother, the equally celebrated artist, Barbara Weir. Teresa has been painting since she was a young woman - inspired by her country of Atnwengerrp - country of grandmother, mother and other female relatives, She paints the large river that runs through her country, its sacred sites and the tracks of her creation ancestors as they moved through the lands.

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Tjulyata Kulyuru, Tjukula/Waterholes, 2021, acrylic on linen, 100 x 122 cm | MM5486 | $2700 Born in 1978, Tjulyata Kulyuru is a highly talented early career artist from Ernabella in the APY Lands. She comes from a family of artists including her mother and older sister Unurupa Nami Kulyuru. Tjulyata paints a very important story about Tjukula (waterholes) in distinctive line work.

Jack Nawilil, Namarrorddo a Profane Spirit, 2015, paperbark, natural fibres, ochre 165 x 10 cm | MM5769 | $3900 Award-winning artist Jack Nawilil was born in 1945 and is a senior cultural leader, songman and artist at Maningrida. He has exhibited throughout Australia and internationally since 1989 and his works are in the collections of the NGV, MCA, QAG, MAGNT and several leading international collections. The most extraordinary of his works are unique renditions of traditional spirit poles.

The only artist to make these sculptures, he was awarded the 2012 Wandjuk Marika 3D Award at the Telstra NATSIAAs in Darwin for a work similar to the one shown here. Made traditionally for ceremonial usage, each carries a specific story which he represents in his own design. This sculpture represents Namorrorddo – a profane spirit which sits upon a rock. It is usually painted in rock shelters with long claw like hands and feet, Namorrorddo carries light, which emanates from his head. The shooting stars seen at night are Namorrorddo travelling across the night sky. Whistling an eerie cry, he is also sometimes depicted carrying bamboo spears and a spear thrower. Namorrorddo is a major dreaming totem for the Kardbam clan.

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Cynthia Burke, Kapi Tjurkula, 2021, burnt etching on desert bloodwood + metal stand 126 x 30 x 12 cm | MM5707 | $4500 Ngaanyatjarra speaker, 49-year-old Cynthia Burke lives at Warakurna, WA. A youth and media worker for many years, she hosts a weekly radio programme for Radio NGM and is in an internationally exhibited painter with Warakurna Artists, weaver with Tjanpi Desert Weavers and wood carver with Maruku Arts. She has created this unique sculpture from a length of naturally burnt bark on which she has incised designs using hot wire. It references an ancient and still- living tree near Warakurna that has a waterhole in the middle. Its story she says is one from the creation times which she is not permitted to make public. “The tree fills with kapi (water) when the rain comes. Then all the tjulpu (birds) come for a good drink. My sculpture represents this special tree. My walka (burned design) shows when the rain comes down, how the water flows around the tree and into the hollow part of the tree.”

Dianne Strangways, Piti, 57.5 x 21 x 11 cm | MM5699 | $1400 Created by leading artists of Maruku Arts of Central Australia, these carved bloodwood Piti or collecting bowls are contemporary renditions of the carved bowls used by women throughout Aboriginal Australia, and especially in Central Australian regions for millennia to collect and transport water, bush foods and occasionally as cradles for babies. Made today as fine art objects as well as for traditional usage, some are incised with designs with burnt wire, while others are left plain.

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(L) Errol Evans, Tjara – Shield, 57 x 6 x 8 cm | MM5686 | $1300 (R) Errol Evans, Kali – Boomerang, 76 x 14 x 1.5 cm | MM5684 | $1300 Originally from far north Queensland, where he learnt the art of traditional shield and other carvings, Errol Evans now lives at Railway Bore on the APY Lands of SA with his Yankunytjatjara wife Tanya Singer. Each has become noted for fine carvings.

Here, his beautifully carved and finished shield is made from ironwood from Railway Bore, noted as the hardest wood in Central Australia while his hunting boomerang is made from mulga wood.

(L to R) Sherianne Manakgu, Yawk Yawk Spirit, 5 x 55 cm | MM5626 | $750 Elaine Naroldol, Mimih Spirit, 7 x 87 cm | MM5622 | $650 Gleeson Nabulwad, Mimih Spirit, 4 x 85 cm | MM5617 | $650 Seen throughout the Central and Western Arnhem Land regions, these Mimih and Yawk Yawk spirits are by three artists from Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), 300k northeast of Darwin. According to the Kunwinjku people of West Arnhem Land, Mimih spirits were the original spirit beings, who taught Aboriginal people many of the skills they needed to survive in the bush. ‘’Yawkyawk’– ‘young woman’ or ‘young woman spirit being’ - are sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids. Yawkyawks are usually depicted with the tails of fish and are said to live in rock pools and streams.

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(L to R) Lynette Lewis, Tjala (Honey Ants), 23 x 14 cm | MM5579 | $1400 Sonia Lewis, Ngayuku Walka (Designs of my Country), stoneware, 25 x 16.5 cm | MM5578 | $1400 Vivian Pingkayi Thompson, Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters), 24 x 14 cm | MM5576 | $1500 Australia’s oldest Aboriginal art centre, Ernabella Arts in the APY Lands was established in 1948 and has hosted many different art forms over its 74 years. These have included folios of screen-printed acrylics on paper, rugs, mats, and other items from wool shorn from the sheep of this once pastoral station as well as batiks on silk and cotton. Today Ernabella artists are best known for their acrylic paintings on canvas and distinctive ceramics such as those by these three leading artists whose ceramics portray the same creation stories as their paintings.

( L to R) Moyurrurra Wunungmurra, Gangan, 266 x 18 cm | MM5160 | $8300 Moyurrurra Wunungmurra, Gangan, 243 x 16 cm | MM5158 | $7900 Yilpirr Wanambi, Djerrka at Gurka’wuy, 258 x 15 cm | MM4814 | $6400 Moyurrurra Wunungmurra represents the miny’tji (sacred clan design) of her clan of Northeast Arnhem land in two softly patterned larrakitj (ceremonial poles). The sacred diamond design reflects the patterning of the water streaming from the body of the ancestral creator being Barama as he emerged from the waters at Gängan. Today senior ritual participants wear sacred feathered strings from armbands, their chest painted with the Dhalwanu design of freshwater. To the right, Yilpirr Wanambi’s larrakitj depicts Wuyal, the ancestral sugarbag man – an important creation ancestor for his Marrakalu people. The designs refer also to the continuation of the Marrakulu culture in dance, song and ceremony, which are performed by current generations.

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Stories of My Country Salt Contemporary Art In partnership with Everywhen Artspace February 17-March 7, 2022 33-35 Hesse Street, Queenscliff VIC 3225 salt-art.com.au