Aboriginal Art Collection by Maris Stoeppler

ABORIGINAL ART C O L L E C T I O N

D I E T E R & L I L I A N S C H M I DT 1

ABORIGINAL ART C O L L E C T I O N

CONTENTS introduction 04 Anna Price Petyarre 06 Barbara Weir 08 Betsy Napangardi Lewis 10 Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri 12 Dolly Petyarre Mills 14 Evelyn Pultara 16 Freddie Timms 20 Gloria TAMERRE Petyarre 22 Jack Dale 26 Judy Napangardi Watson 28 Kenny Williams TjampitjinpA

Kudditiji Kngwarreye 32 Liddy Napanangka Walker 36 Mary Anne Nampitjimpa 38 Minnie Pwerle 40 Ningura Napurrula 42 TJUNKIYA NAPALTJARRI 44 Wendy Darby 46 Wentja Napaltjarri 48 NYREE REYNOLDS 50 Roy McIvor 56 3

INTRODUCTION Australian Aboriginal art is one of the oldest continuing art traditions in the world. Much of the most important knowledge of aboriginal society was conveyed through different kinds of storytelling — including narratives that were spoken, performed as dances or songs, and those that were painted. Traditional symbols are an essential part of much contemporary Aboriginal art. Aboriginal peoples have long artistic traditions within which they use conventional designs and symbols. These designs when applied to any surface, whether on the body of a person taking part in a ceremony or on a shield, have the power to transform the object to one with religious significance and power. Australian Aboriginal contemporary traditional work depicts themes connected to the „Dreamtime“ and are frequently called „Dreamings“ „The Dreamtime is the period in which creative acts were performed by the first ancestors of men -- spirits, heros, and heroines who established the pattern of nature and life, and created man‘s environment. The Dreamtime is a process as well as a period: it had its beginning when the world was young and unformed, but it has never ceased. The ancestor who established law and patterns of behavior is as alive today as when he performed his original creative acts. The sacred past, the Dreamtime, is for Aborigines also the sacred present, the Eternal Dreamtime.“ THE DREAMING Dreaming does not convey the fullness of the concept for Aboriginal people but is the most acceptable English word to Aboriginal people. The word is acceptable because very often revelations or insights are received in dreams or recurring visions. The Dreaming refers to all that is known and all that is understood. It is the way Aboriginal people explain life and how their world came into being. It is central to the existence of traditional Aboriginal people, their lifestyle and their culture, for it determines their values and beliefs and their relationship with every living creature and every feature of the landscape. JOURNEY OF THE CREATOR ANCESTORS The Dreaming tells of the journeys and deeds of creator ancestors. The creator ancestors made the trees, rocks, waterholes, rivers, mountains and stars, as well as the animals and plants, and their spirits inhabit these features of the natural world today. Good and bad behaviours are demonstrated in Dreaming stories as ancestors hunt, marry, care for children and defend themselves from their enemies. CONCEPT OF TIME The Dreaming is often understood as a period of time, but this European concept of a unit of time in past does not contain the full meaning. The Dreaming is not some long past era but a continuous entity, from which people come, which people renew and which people go back to. Art is one to the ways through which Aboriginal people communicate with and maintain a oneness with the Dreaming. When people take on the characteristics of the Dreaming ancestors through dance, song and art and when they maintain sacred sites, the spirits of the creator ancestors are renewed. 04

OUR ‚COUNTRY‘ It is the natural world, which therefore provides the link between the people and the Dreaming, especially the land (or ‚country‘) to which a person belongs. Aboriginal people see themselves as related to, and part of, this natural world and know its features in intricate detail. This relationship carries responsibilities for its survival and continuity so that each person has special obligations to protect and preserve the spirit of the land and the life forms that are a part of it. THE INDIVIDUAL‘S LINK WITH THE DREAMING For Aboriginal people who follow traditional beliefs, the Dreaming is intensely personal. Each person is linked to it by his or her individual Dreaming (or totem), this belief involves the idea that the creator ancestors who were physically alive in the natural features of the landscape in which they once moved. CULTURAL HERITAGE The Dreaming is as important to Aboriginal people as the Christian Bible and the whole ethos of Christian belief is to the devout Christian. The Dreaming is still vitally important to today‘s Aboriginal people. It gives a social and spiritual base and links them to their cultural heritage. Many Aboriginal people are Christian as well as having a continuing belief in their Dreaming. In some areas, where Aboriginal people may no longer have the full knowledge of their Dreaming, they still retain strong spirituality, kinship practices and traditional values and beliefs. ART FORMS Aboriginal people traditionally used the materials available to them to symbolise the Dreaming and their world. As a result, art forms varied in different areas of Australia. In the central desert, ground drawing was a very important style of art and throughout Australia rock art as well as body painting and decoration were common although varying in styles, method, materials and meaning. There is and was a wide range of traditional Aboriginal art forms. 05

Anna Price Petyarre Anna Price Petyarre is an eastern Anmatyerre woman, born at Utopia in 1960. Anna‘s home is Atneltyeye, Boundary Bore, on the Utopia Homelands, approximately 220 km from Alice Springs. She lives there with her family. She is a grandmother with five grandchildren. Anna, whose mother was the late artist Glory Ngale, has painted since her early childhood. She is related to Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Kudditji Kngwarreye through her grandfather, who was a brother of Emily and Kuddltji‘s father. Anna Petyarre‘s subjects include Bush Yam and Yam Seed Dreamings, which are associated Dreamings from her grandfather’s and father’s country at Atneltyeye, or Boundary Bore. As a traditional Aboriginal women involved in sacred ceremonies, Anna also paints Awelye-ceremonlal body paint designs - related to women‘s ceremony. Amongst these is the story of women painting up for ceremony inside a cave, singing of how to attract a man, and of the bush foods preferred by interested suitors. The women also learn the laws that stipulate that they must only encourage the interests of men of a certain clan relationship to themselves. Anna‘s more recent work has focused on images of her ancestral country, the finely delineated structures showing the terrain of the sandhill and bush country, often with markings that reveal waterholes and ceremonial sites. Anna Petyarre is renowned for her line painting technique and for the care and pride she takes in her work, producing intricate and sensitive paintings that relate to the traditional culture of her Anmatyerre heritage.

Story In this painting Anna Petyarre illustrates multi-layered elements associated with her country Atneltyeye, or Boundary Bore, on the Utopia Homelands. She says ‘There are sandhills and hills and rivers - big ones and little ones.“ In the tradition of ancient sand drawings, Anna has painted her country from an areal perspective. The finely dotted lines trace the shapes of the sandhills and watercourses that run through her homelands.

Sandhills and watercourse Acrylic on Canvas 148 x 90 cm 2008

Barbara Weir Barbara Weir was born in 1945 at what was formerly known as Bundy River Station in the region of Utopia, 240 km northeast of Alice Springs. Her country is Atnwengerrp and her language is Anmatyerre and Alyawarr. Barbara‘s mother is Aboriginal and her father is Irish, and because she was a child of mixed parentage she was taken away from her family at the age of nine. During these years she lost contact with her family but was determined to return and reclaim her heritage. In the late 1960s she finally returned to Utopia with her six children, to be reunited with the famous late Emily Kame Kngwarreye who had looked after her as a small child. She began to relearn the languages of her people. Through her renewed special relationship with Emily Kngwarreye, Barbara‘s talent and interest in art was encouraged and began to flourish. Barbara Weir‘s Dreamings are: Bush Berry, Grass Seed, Wild Flower and My Mother‘s Country, which she paints with an explosive mixture of Aboriginal spirituality and modern white culture. She is represented in major private and public collections including the Holmes a Court Collection and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Story In the Utopia region, there are many varieties of grasses to be found. One such type is found in the spinifex, sand plains, and sandhills that produce a seed that is collected, crushed and made into a paste to produce a bread that the people eat. This grass can grow up to 15 cm high and is reddish in colour. It is found throughout the year, but is particularly abundant after a fall of rain. Due to the grazing of cattle and rabbits the grass is not as plentiful and the seeds are harder to collect. In years gone, the Aboriginal people collected these seeds in a most unusual way. Due to the seeds ripening at different stages, many would fall to the ground and be covered by sand and lost from view. The Aboriginal people would look for the nesting site of a particular ant. This ant, collected the seeds, and ate a certain portion and then discarded the rest. The discarded seeds would be found in a pile just outside the nest, where it was collected, cleaned and then ground into a thick paste to produce the damper or bread - an important source of food for the Aboriginal people. The practice of making this bread is not in much use today, due to the introduction of ready made bread. This grass is important to Barbara. The small brush strokes in warm colours overlap and weave to create a swaying effect like the movement of native grass. The Dreaming for this grass seed has been passed down to her by her ancestors.

Grass Seed Dreaming Synthetic Polymer on Canvas 120 x 90 cm 2004

Betsy Napangardi Lewis Betsy Napangardi Lewis’ strong character and confronting nature can sometimes be overwhelming. However behind that tough exterior is a caring, happy and smiley person. Betsy was bom in the bush at Kunajanyi, west of Yuendumu but when she was quite young she moved with her family to Mt. Doreen Station. She was brought up by Paddy Japanangka Lewis. Betsy attended school in Yuendumu where she now lives permanently. She has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists since 1999. She can be found painting at the art centre every day where she carefully works on her design, always willing to experiment with new techniques and styles. Betsy‘s main Dreaming is Mina Mina, country located far west of Yuendumu on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Desert. She shares this country and dreaming with Judy Napangardi Watson. Mina Mina is a very important women’s dreaming site and has a long story in which a large group of ancest women of all ages travel through the country dancing and performing ceremonies and creating the country as they go. Betsy has developed her own very characteristic style while painting this dreaming. She has a unique control and use of colour and design with thick and narrow super-imposed lines of different colours. She has been able to create and express movement through her designs and use of bright colours. More than just a depiction of the story, the artist has used the Jukurrpa as a medium to experiment and evolve technically. She has been able to create the illusion of movement with the use of clean lines of different colours. In many of her paintings she has concentrated on a very small part of the dreaming story as her main focus is the development of her very own distinctive painting style.

Story This story is part of the Karntakurlangu (Women‘s Dreaming) which belongs to the Napanangka and Napangardi sub-sections. During the Dreamtime a group of Napanangka and Napangardi women travelled through Janyinki on their way east to Mina Mina, the site associated with this Dreaming. They carried Karlangu (digging sticks) and collected bush tucker such as Jintipamta and Purlumtari, which they carried in their Parraja (food carriers). Both Jintiparnta and Purlurntari, are varieties of edible fungus, also known as native truffle, that are found after rains. The growing fungus forces the earth above it to crack, exposing it. Women collect the Jintiparnta, squeeze out the juice, and then cook it before eating. The women also collected Ngalyipi to make shoulder straps to carry coolamon with bush tucker. The central motive in this painting are the digging sticks (represented by the straight lines) that these women carried and the curved lines represent the motion of the sticks as the women dig for Jintiparnta, the edible mushrooms. This grass is important to Barbara. The small brush strokes in warm colours overlap and weave to create a swaying effect like the movement of native grass.

Mina Mina Jukurrpa Acrylic on Canvas 183 x 91 cm 2005

Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri is a Pitjantjatjara man born in the 1920‘s at Pirupa Akla, country located near the Olgas and to the west of Ayers Rock. By the time he was a young man, most of Whiskey’s family had passed away. Many of his people had begun moving towards Haasts Bluff mission, about 250 km to the north east. Whiskey joined a group of people who were about to make that joumey. No one had yet seen white people, and when they arrived at the mission, the desert people were completely naked. Whiskey, along with some of the others, decided not to stay, as they were frightened when they saw white people for the first time. Their fear came from the belief that the white people were Mamu, or bad spirit people, and so the group continued to travel. They eventually arrived at an area near Areyonga, where a white missionary Pastor called Patupirri had established a camp. It was here that Whiskey and the others first tasted white man food. Whiskey tells how they would throw this strange food behind theirs backs, as they did not like its taste. Whiskey spent a little time with Patupirri before moving back to Haasts Bluff mission, where he had been told there were plenty of women. This time Whiskey stayed, and was given his first set of clothes. And it was here that he met his wife Colleen Nampltjinpa, and never retumed to his home country. Whiskey practiced as a witch doctor or traditional healer, and people would come from afar to be treated by him. While living at the Haasts Bluff mission, Whiskey took a job as cook for the contract fencers and mustering crew. He came to be called Whiskers, owing to his long white beard, and the name eventually evolved into Whiskey. Whiskey began painting in 2004. The main images in his works are the Rockholes near Pirupa, Ayers Rock, and the story of his own joumeys to Areyonga and Haasts Bluff. Whiskey is a very traditional man with an extremely jovial personality. The bright colours in his work are said to reflect the character of the man bold, colourful, and strong in spirit.

Story Bill has painted the country and rockholes around Ayres Rock. This painting has been created from an aerial perspective, in the tradition of ancient sand drawings. The term ‘country’ as used by indigenous Australians refers to the spirits that reside in location as well as the landscape itself. Bill Whiskey, was originally from Pirupa Akla (Olgas) area. By the time he was a young man most of Whiskey’s family had passed away and the people in the area were moving in the direction of Haast Bluff Mission and he followed along with them. Whiskey has never been back to his home lands and in his paintings recall the country of his birth. Whiskey has only began painting in 2004 and generally in his works he tells the story of the Rockholes near Pirupa (Ayers Rock), and his own joumey to Areongo and Haast Bluff.

Rock Holes and Country near the Olga´s Acrylic on Linen 125 x 40 cm 2006

Dolly Petyarre Mills Dolly Petyarre Mills was born in 1948 at Boundary Bore Outstation on Utopia Community in the Northern Territory and her language group is Alyawarr. Dolly lives with her sister, Gloria (Glory) Petyarre Mills, at Boundary Bore and are full sisters to Greeny Petyarre Purvis. She is widely recognised as one of Australia’s leading Aboriginal artists and has work in major Australian and international collections. The delicate patterning and subtle colours of Dolly’s work depicts her country of Alhalker situated in the Utopia region north east of Alice Springs. She participated in the „Utopia - A Picture Story“ which included 88 silk batiks from Robert Holmes a Court collection. This confirmed the artistic credibility of the Utopian artists. Dolly depicts Yam Dreamings and Emu Tucker in her paintings. The yam is one of the most stable types of bush tucker gathered in the Utopia region. Intricate dot work represents the yam seeds and the flowers. Dolly explains that Emus love to eat the delicate golden flower that blooms on this shrub during the hot summer months. Dolly’s paintings are characteristically bold and vibrant. She creates a strong linear design by overlaying thicker dots over the fine dot work.

Story The seed of the atnwelarr - pencil yam and Ilenyenp - one of the varieties of cassia found in the Utopia Region, are the subject of Dolly’s painting. The stories surrounding both of these plants belong to Alhalkere country in the Utopia Region, northeast of Alice Springs. The straight line through the centre of the painting and the diagonal direction of dots signifies travelling, dancing and story lines. Intricate dot work represnts the yam seeds and the flowers of the cassia. Dolly explains that emus love to eat the delicate golden yellow flower blooms on this shrub during the hot months.

Yam Seed and Emu Tucker Acrylic on Linen 120 x 90 cm 2005 14

Evelyn Pultara Evelyn Pultara lives at Wilora Community in the Utopia Homelands with her husband Clem and their family. Her parents (now deceased) were Rosie Ngale and Jack Kngwarreye. Jack was brother to the late Emily Kngwarreye making Evelyn her blood niece. Jack had two wives and five children the only other child by Rosie is Greeny Purvis the well respected Anmatyerre elder and famous artist. Greeny and Evelyn both share the plant totem of their late Aunt the bush yam which is a native subterranean source of food and water. Evelyn represents her dreaming totem in many different styles, from pictorial representations of the plants edible root system to the explosive nature of a germinating yam seed. It is her unyielding ability to find harmony within a varied palette that sets her apart as an artist. She is heavily represented in Galleries in France and Italy and had her first solo exhibition at Walkabout Gallery in Leichardt, Sydney in June 2003 she has also been part of several group exhibitions, including, most recently an exhibition of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at Gallery New Quay Docklands, Melbourne, March 2004

Story Her Dreamings, related through haptic adventures in paint, relate the tales of the mythic totemic ancestors who made the land, its people, and its food. Through their telling and retelling and the depiction of their sites in art, these Dreamings provide a song-map that locates the water holes, ochre pits, food sources, and sacred sites of the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s country. It has been said that her paintings impart the rhythm of the yam corroborree enacted and retold for time in memoriam through song and dance.

Bush Yam Acrylic on Linen 120 x 90 cm 2005

Freddie Timms Freddie was given the bush name, Gnarrmaliny, after the place he was born - Police Hole, on the vast East Kimberley Cattle Station, Bedford Downs in 1944. Growing up on the busy property, he learned all the necessary riding and stock handling skills at an early age. He contract mustered on most of them surrounding pastoral leases, including Bedford, Lissadell, Mabel Downs, Old Argyle, Texas Downs and Bow River Station. After the stockmen‘s dispute in the seventies, which resulted in the removal of most of the people from their homelands, he was placed first in the Guda-Guda Community at Wyndham, after which, he and his family were relocated to Warmun/Turkey Creek. Bow River Station was eventually granted by the Government to the Timms Family, with Freddie’s uncle the late Timmy as Chairperson. Today, he and wife Beryline, live at the tiny community of Frog Hollow where he enjoys the peace and quiet as he paints his stories. He started painting about twelve years ago, using the knowledge and techniques that he had acquired by working with, and talking with the best of the Warmun Artists such as Jack Britten, Hector Jandanay, Henry Wambini, the late Rover Thomas and his father-in-law, Paddy Jampinji, who was one of the finest of the earlier Warmun/Turkey Creek artists. Freddie travels frequently to attend numerous Group and Solo Exhibitions within Australia and his paintings have been collected/acquired by the most notable Galleries, Collectors both in Australia and overseas.

Story Sallybutte Creek runs through Springvale Station, joins up with a tributary of the Ord River and then turns on heading towards Bow River Station. It should be called a river - too big to be a creek. Always water in it and everyone knows Sallybutte. Still used today to bring the cattle into the yards there. Now most of the mustering is by chopper - it‘s quicker but they miss a few of the big scrub bulls in the higher country.

Sallybutte Creek - Springvale Ochre on Canvas 90 x 124 cm 1998

Gloria Tamerre Petyarre Gloria Tamerre Petyarre was born near Utopia and is a spokeswoman for the Anmatyerre people. She is married to the artist Ronnie Price Mpetyane and has four sisters - Ada Bird Petyarre, Violet Petyarre, Myrtle Petyarre, Kathleen Petyarre - who are all artists. Gloria Tamerre Petyarre first became known as an artists for her contributions to the Utopia Batik Exhibition which toured Australia and overseas from 1977 to 1987. She began using acrylic paint on canvas in 1988, because it gave her greater freedom of expression and simultaneously better control over the results. Her first canvases were created as part of a Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) art project. In 1990 she travelled with the exhibiton „Utopia - A Picture Story“ to Dublin, London and also to India. Gloria is a very well known and respected artist. In 1999 she became the first contemporary Aboriginal artist to win the important „Wynne Prize for Landscape“ of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Her first solo show was in 1991 and since then she has had many exhibitions, including in New York.

Story Bush Medicine Dreaming makes reference to the leaves of a particular type of native shrub which grows abundantly in the desert regions of Utopia, Gloria Petyarre’s homeland, north-east of Alice Springs. The leaves are invaluable to the people of Utopia as they are used to aid in the healing process. During the life of the plant, the leaves change colour and exhibit different medicinal properties. In this work Gloria captures the movement of the leaves as they fall to the ground. This sense of motion is characteristic of her paintings. She also employs bold brush strokes loaded with colour to represent the leaves at different times of the year. The green leaves are gathered by the women and ground with a stone. When mixed with water this forms a milky solution which can be used to cure coughs, colds and flu-like symptoms. The leaves are also collected and boiled to extract their resin, which is then mixed with kangaroo fat. This creates a paste that can be stored for six months in bush conditions. This medicine is used to heal cuts, wounds, bites, rashes and as an insect repellent. The leaves can also be made into a mixture to apply to aching joints or to place on the temples to cure headaches. The knowledge of Bush Medicine has been passed down from generation to generation over thousands of years and is still being used today by the people of Utopia. In painting Bush Medicine Dreaming, the artist is paying homage to the spirit of the medicinal plant to encourage its regeneration so that her people can continue to benefit from its healing powers.

Bush Medicine Acrylic on Linen 120 x 91 cm 2009

Bush Medicine Synthetic Polymer on Linen 152x 122 cm 2005

Jack dale Jack Dale Mengenen, born around 1922, is one of the most senior law men of the Kimberley Narrungunni people. Dale paints from his memory of ‚law and the old people‘ so that these Dreamtime stories won‘t be lost. As senior law man, Jack Dale has the moral authority to paint the Wandjinas and their stories. Dale‘s extraordinary paintings of Wandjinas, the most important spirit ancestors of the Kimberleys, and Jalalas or marking stones, represent some of Australia‘s most important aboriginal art by a contemporary indigenous artist. „A lot of people died unhappy when we were taken from our land. We are in the desert now, strange country we don‘t know. We can‘t give evidence now. How can people understand what we are telling them, all our symbols have gone, we are too far away... Lots of people learned white man‘s rules, but nobody recognised our law...It was bad when we saw loads of stone smashed up in our land. Many of these were special stones like in my paintings here. These stones we call Djalala, which separate our country from somebody else‘s country...We were taught to care for our country, our mother, it‘s our birthright, it‘s our father‘s land too. We had to abide white man‘s law, that‘s when misery came on us...Many people too old to walkabout country. But these Djalala very important for us. It‘s our evidence that Wandjina created.“

Story ‘These Wandjinas come from Iondra in the Komaduwah clan estate. They are my proof of ownership of this land just like the words written on a Title to Land issued by the government agency that manages land tenure. My title to land comes from the Narrungunni (Dreaming) and Whitefellas get theirs from the government. In my way of thinking the Blackfellas law is older and more true than the Whitefellas‘ law.’ Jack Dale. ‘Iondra - My Grandad country.’

Six Wandjinas - Ye Lala Ochre on Canvas 65 x 55 cm 2006

Judy Napangardi Watson Judy Watson was born at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, at the time when many Warlpiri and other Central and Westem Desert Peoples were living a traditional nomadic life. With her family, Judy made many trips on foot to her country and lived for long periods at Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu, her ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts. These places are rich in bush tucker such as wanakiji, bush plums, yakajirri, bush tomatoes, and wardapi, sand goanna. Judy still frequently goes hunting in the country west of Yuendumu, near her homelands. Judy was taught painting by her elder sister, Maggie Napangardi Watson. She painted alongside her at Warlukurlangu artists for a number of years, developing her own unique style. Though a very tiny woman Judy has had ten children, three of whom she has outlived. She is a woman of incredible energy. This is transmitted to her work through her dynamic use of colour, and energetic “dragged dotting‘ style. She is at the forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa by Warlpiri artists, however her work retains strong kurruwani, the details which tell of the sacredness of place and song in her culture.

Story ‘This painting depicts a major women’s ceremonial site known as Mina Mina, located near Lake Mackay in the Tanami Desert, north of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. The central dark element represents hairstring that is worn as belts and tassels by Warlpiri women. This hairstring is closely associated with the Karnakurlangu Jurkurrpa that is acted out at the Mina Mina ceremonial site. Hairstring is mainly spun directly after the death of a family member. Women cut their hair, ritually cleanse it and spin it into yarn.

Hairstring at Mina Mina Acrylic on Linen 122 x 61 cm 2006

Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa was born in 1950 - Kiwirrkura. He now lives and works at Intinti, NT His meticulous painting technique of linear geometric designs in delicate earthy tones are hypnotic and replicate those used for decorating shields, boomerangs and „tjuringa“. The eldest of two children of Naata Nungurrayi, Kenny spent his boyhood travelling with his family in the lands surrounding Wilkinkarra, until they were taken to Papunya by a welfare patrol in 1963 with most of the Anatjari Tjampitjinpa group. He moved to Balgo Hills during the 1970s together with a group of Pintupi people, but eventually returned to Papunya. Then, with his older brother Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, he transferred to the Intinti outstation west of Kintore. Kenny began his painting career in 1988 while at Papunya, where he was a member and Chairman of Papunya Tula Artists for many years. He depicts his tribal country around the area of Kiwirrkura and his father‘s country, Yirrukurlu, located south of the Pollock Hills. His dreamings include a Python story and Ngamanpura, a swamp west of Kintore, where a blackberry of the same name is found in favourable seasons.

Story This painting depicts designs associated with the travels of two kuniya (pythons), a male and a female, from Manapinti to the rockhole site of Karrilwarra, a site north-west of the Kiwirrkura Community. The snakes’ tracks are represented by the lines in the painting. At Karrilwarra the snakes created the rockholes, soakages and sandhills before travelling south-west to Wiluna. The concentric circles in this painting represent the rockholes at the site. This site was also visited by travelling Tingari people, who later continued their journey in the same direction as the snakes. Since events associated with the Tingari Cycle are of a secret nature no further detail was given. Generally, the Tingari area group of ancestral beings of the Dreaming who travelled over vast stretches of the country, performing rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari Men were usually followed by Tingari Women and were accompanied by novices, and their travels and adventures are enshrined in a number of song cycles. These stories form part of the teachings of the post initiatory youths today as well as providing explanations for contemporary customs.

KW 0611224 122 x 91 cm 2006

Kudditiji Kngwarreye Kudditji Kngwarreye is a senior man of the Eastern Anmatyerre language group from Alhalkere on the Utopia homelands, about 270 km north east of Alice Springs. Kudditji (pronounced Kubbitji), was born around 1928. He is the younger brother of renowned Utopia artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye. As a young man Kudditji worked as a stockman on cattle stations around his traditional country, and took other occassional jobs including working as a gold miner. He began painting in 1986, after the Central Desert art movement that began with the work of senior men at Papunya, began spreading out to other desert communities. Kudditji Kngwarreye’s early style consisted of symmetrically dotted paintings depicting the Emu Dreaming sites and ceremonies associated with Men‘s Business. During the mid 1990‘s Kudditji began to experiment, replacing his previous fine dotting style with one that used densely applied paint to create broad sweeps of colour on the canvas. This imagery created something similar to the western landscape plane, and the paintings were romantic images of his country, concentrating on colour and form of the landscape. Strong images were being created of the intense skies of the desert rainy season and the extreme heat of high summer. These innovative paintings were slow to be accepted, and the artist returned to the more popular style of his finely dotted paintings. In 2003 Kudditji returned to explore the looser painting style, which draws close connections to the later paintings of his elder sister Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who was one of the great innovators in contemporary desert art. Kuddtji Kngwarreye paints his traditional country, the country for which he is a custodian, around Boundary Bore on the Utopia homelands. Significant throughout this country are the Emu Dreaming sites, where major men‘s initiation ceremonies are performed. The “Emu Dreaming“ is one of Kudditji’s inherited ancestral totems, and is regularly referred to in his paintings. Kuddtji Kngwarreye has been represented in major international exhibitions and has gained world wide recognition for his traditional depictions of his ancestral Dreamings.

Story Kudditji Kngwarreye paints aerial views of his country that reflect the changing seasons as well as the areas of spiritual significance. Kudditji is a very senior Iawman and an Elder for the Ammatyerre speaking people from Utopia which is situated some 270 km north east of Alice Springs in Central Australia. Using his unrivalled and unique knowledge of his country, Kudditji began to experiment with the synthetic polymer paint to eradicate the pointillist style altogether and to use a heavily loaded paint brush to sweep broadly across the canvas in stages, similar to the westem landscape plane, these paintings were romantic images of his country, accentuating the colour and form of the landscape including the depth of the sky in the wet season and in the reds and oranges of the shimmering summer heat. These ground-breaking paintings expressed Kudditji‘s extensive knowledge and love of his country in a way never seen before. 32

My Country Acrylic on Linen 120 x 180 cm 2008

My Country Synthetic Polymer on Linen 120 x 90 cm 2005

Liddy Napanangka Walker Liddy Napanangka Walker is a Warlpiri woman born in the 1930s. Part of the senior women artists who have been described as the “Painting Divas from the Desert”. Her work reflects the vibrant colours and textures used in the Yuendumu region. Mt Theo is Liddy’s father‘s country. Liddy paints her father Japangardi‘s Dreaming and her grandfather‘s Dreaming. She regularly visits her country around Mt Theo and west of Yuendumu. She has lived in Yuendumu, a Warlpiri community in the Tanami 300 km Northwest of Alice Springs, since it was first established and has worked in the community in various pastoral care roles including as a cook. She started painting on canvas not long after Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association was established and is now one of its most senior members. Liddy Napanangka Walker has been exhibiting artwork since 1985 throughout Australia and around the world.

Story The main motif of this painting depicts the Wakirlpirri tree. A sweet drink is made from this plant. Boomerangs, dancing boards for ceremony and other implements are made from this wood. This Dreaming travels from Jarrarda-Jarrayi through to Puturlu (Mt Theo) west of Yuendumu. The Dreaming belongs to Japanangka and Japangardi men, Napanangka and Napangardi women.

Wakiripirri Jukurrpa Acrylic on Canvas 122 x 107 cm 2006

Mary Anne Nampitjimpa

Story This painting depicts designs associated with the soakage water site of Pulinyanu, which is slightly north of the Nyirrpi Community. In ancestral times, a group of women of the Nampitjinpa and Nangala kinship subsections, gathered at this site to perform the dances and sing the songs associated with the area. The women are represented in the painting by the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Uâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; shapes, while the roundels in the work represent the soakage waters at the site. While in this area the women collected witjirrki (wild iig) from nearby trees. They also gathered wood for making wana (digging sticks). Upon completion of the ceremonies at Pulinyanu the women continued their travels east.

MN 06111222 Acrylic on Canvas 91 x 61 cm 2006

Minnie Pwerle Minnie Pwerle was born in the Utopia region in approximately 1910. Her country is Atnwengerrp and her language is Anmatyerre and Alyawarr. Minnie has five sisters, and seven children including Eileen, Betty, June, Dora, Raymond, and Barbara Weir who is a well-known Aboriginal artist, also represented by Flinders Lane Gallery. Minnie began painting in earnest recently at DACOU‘s workshop where she completed a series of linear paintings in September/ October 1999. Sonia Heitlinger, Director of Flinders Lane Gallery organised for Minnie‘s first solo exhibition in 2000 based on the strength of these paintings. These works are bold and free-flowing and immediately captured the attention of art lovers. Her first exhibition sold out. Minnies‘ main Dreamings are „Awelye-Atnwengerrp“, “Bush Melon“, and “Bush Melon Seed“. These convey her love and respect for the land and the food it provides to the people. “Awelye-Atnwengerrp‘ is depicted by a series of lines painted in different widths and colours. This pattem represents the lines painted on the top half of the women‘s bodies during ceremonies in their country of Atnwengerrp.

Story Minnie’s Dreamings consist of elements of ‘Bush Melon’ and ‚Awelyei Awelye - Atnwengerrp’ is epicted by a series of lines painted in varying widths and colours. These patterns represent the lines painted on the top half of vvomen’s bodies during ceremonies in Minnie’s country of Atnwengerrp. Body painting carries a deep spiritual significance for Aboriginal people. They recognise the creative nature of this activity, which uses the human body itself as a living canvas for artistic expression - The use of particular designs and motifs donates social position and the relationship of the individuals to their family group and to particular ancestors, totemic animals and tracts of land. In many situations, individuals are completely transformed, so they ‚become‘ the spirit ancestor they are portraying in the dance. Body painting ranges from simply smearing clay across the face to hill body patteming, The body paint is derived from blood, natural ochres, spinifex ash and emu fat. Elaborate ground constructions (sand paintings) are also made for the ceremonies. Patterns must conform to the ceremony being performed, and the women are not at liberty to adorn themselves with designs of free will.

Awelye Acrylic on Linen 140 x 200 cm 2004

Ningura Napurrula Ningura Napurrula Gibson was born around 1938 at Watulka in Western Australia, south of the modern Kiwirrkura community, Ningura Napurrula moved to Papunya in the early days of the settlement with her husband. She is the widow of Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi, a highly respected Pintupi elder who held significant knowledge of his countries Dreaming stories. In 1996 she was part of a group of elderly women from Kintore and Kiwirrkura who began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in their own right. Characteristic of her work is a strong dynamism and rich linear design-compositions created with heavy layers of Acrylic paint. Ningura Napurrula participated in an initial Papunya Tula Artists exhibition in 1996 and she has been featured in several group shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin in 1999. She had her first solo exhibition with William Mora Aboriginal Art in 2000, and participated in the impressive Kintore Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s Painting for the Papunya Tula retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Story The roundel in the centre of this painting depicts the rockhole and soakage water site of Ngaminya, slightly south-west of the Kiwirrkura Conununity in Western Australia In ancestral times a group of women travelled to this site from further west, gathering at Ngaminya to perform the dances and sing the songs associated with the area. They also spun hair-string with which to make nyimparra (hair-string skirts), which are worn during these ceremonies. The comb-like shapes in this painting depict the nyimparra. While at the site the women also gathered the edible berries known as kampurarrpa, or desert raisin, from the small shrub Solanum centrale. These berries can be eaten straight from the bush, but are sometimes ground into a paste and cooked in the coals to form a type of damper. The small black circles in this painting represent the kampurarrpa. The small red circles represent pura (bush tomato), from the plant Solanum chippendalei, which the women also collected. The women later continued their travels north-east to Wirrul, Walkalkarra and Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay).

NN 0611145 Acrylic on Linen 61 x 55 cm 2006

TJUNKIYA NAPALTJARRI Tjunkiya was born around 1927: the main biographical reference work for the region gives a date of circa 1927; while the Art Gallery of New South Wales suggests circa 1930. The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events. ‚Napaljarri‘ (in Warlpiri) or ‚Napaltjarri‘ (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans. Thus ‚Tjunkiya ‚ is the element of the artist‘s name that is specifically hers. A Pintupi speaker, Tjunkiya was born in the area northwest of Walungurru (known as Kintore, Northern Territory), near the Western Australian border, and west of Alice Springs), after which her family moved to Haasts Bluff. She became second wife to Toba Tjakamarra, father of one of the prominent founders of the Papunya Tula art movement, Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula. At Haasts Bluff she had ten children: these included sons Billy Rowe and Riley Rowe, both of whom painted for Papunya Tula, and daughter Mitjili (born c. 1948), who married Long Tom Tjapanangka and went on to paint at Haasts Bluff. From Haasts Bluff the family moved to Papunya and in 1981 to Kintore.

Story This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole site of Umari, situated in sandhill country east of Mt Webb in Westem Australia. The lines in the painting represent the puli (rocky outcrops) and tali (sandhills) surrounding the site. A number of women gathered at Umari to perform ceremonies. The women, one of the Nangala kinship subsection and the others of the Napaltjarri kinship subsection, later travelled towards the east. One of the stories associated with the area concerns a relationship between man of the Tjakamarra kinship subsection and a woman of the Nangala kinship subsection. This is a mother-in-law relationship, which is taboo in Aboriginal culture.

TN 0511220 Acrylic on Linen 91 x 91 cm 2005

Wendy Darby Wendy darby was born in Port Hedland and grew up in the bush community at Yadeyerra, a cattle station belonging to her people just outside Pt Hedland. In the early years Wendy lived a traditional life with her family, with the old people teaching the young people all about the places, plants and animals of the area through their stories. Wendy says: “Through these stories I learnt all about my country - about bush medicine - how to collect this and that plant and how to use them for various ailments, as pastes or liquids to drink. I’ve been all around there. Been everywhere. All the old people used to live there and work at the station. I do my painting, I think about my country and what the old people taught me.” Wendy met her husband, Ricky Sandy, a Yindjibardi man, when he was a teenager working as a stockman at Yandeyarra. They subsequently moved to Roebourne and have three children. Wendy enjoys learning new techniques and quickly adapts them to her own style. This is reflected in the ease with which she currently moves between styles. She enjoys a variety of techniques such as sponge, brush work and dots to create her subtle artworks. Generally Wendy prefers to use earth colours that are traditional to her culture such as red oxide, yellow ochre and carbon black, which are prevalent in the Pilbara area of Western Australia. On occasion her use of bright colours, including vivid blues, captures another side of both Wendy’s personality and of the coastal region of the Pilbara. Wendy quickly became recognised for her subtle compositions of drifting colours and in 2007 was the over-all winner in the Cossack Art Award.

Story Wendy says of this painting: “This is my country. My grandparents, mother, father and family went hunting all over here looking for bush tucker. As a child I would go walking through it with my mother and father looking for bush food. Everywhere, just walking through this beautiful country we call home, hunting for goanna, kangaroo and emu, into the sandy country where bush food was found, and to the rivers and soaks. Our grandparents would look for bush medicine. The beauty of the wild flowers blossoming around the soaks and on the river banks of this desert land. This is my family country. If we were hunting goanna through the river sand and it went over rocks and we lost its tracks, we would go up to higher ground to see where it was going. When I paint my country, I first paint the background of the painting in different patterns of browns and reds, the colours of our ground. Then I paint the colours of the trees, plants and flowers against this background. In this panting I have painted a river fiowing through our country - the Yule River. We catch lots of fish here.” 46

Country Acrylic on Canvas 107 x 105 cm2009

Wentja Napaltjarri Wentja Napaltjani was bom in the bush at Malparinga in the Gibson Desert, and grew up west of Kintore in her father‘s country. Wentja, who is the daughter of one of the founders of the Papunya Tula desert painting movement, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi, has been painting all of her life. Her first paintings were collaborative, helping out the men in the family with their work. While they painted the stories or iconographic elements, Wentja did the in-flll dottlng, characteristic of the Pintupi desert artists. Wentja‘s own career began when she created her first paintings for Watiyawanu Artists at Amunturrngu. Since that time Wentja has achieved high recognition for her work and in 2002 she was a Finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. The main subjects for Wentja‘s paintings are Blue Tongue Lizard and Water Dreaming stories, handed down from her father. Wentja‘s paintings are less geometric than her father‘s and show a softening of iconography through the use of intricate, finelyworked dots. This soft dotting technique is characteristic of many of the Mt Liebig women artists with whom she paints at Watiyawanu Arts Centre. Wentja‘s palette reflects the warm colours of the central desert country. Wentja is a highly individual artist little influenced by other painters working around her and has developed a distinctive and consistent style characterized by subtle variations in colour and texture. She loves to paint and works for many hours each day squatting on the concrete on the front porch of her house, surrounded by family and pet dingoes. The dingoes get whacked off the canvas each time they stray onto it with a long stick kept handy for this purpose. Wentja lives at Mt Liebig with her husband, Ginger Tjakamarra (son of well known artist Makinti Napanangka), and with her sons. She has three sisters who are also well known artisls - Wentja, Tjunkiya, and Linda Syddick.

Story In this painting Wentja depicts her father, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi’s country, west of Kintore, and it relates back to the time when Shorty, Wentja and the family were living a traditional nomadic lifestyle. It has been painted as an aerial view, in the tradition of ancient sand drawings. For indigenous people, the word ‘country‘ means a place plus the Dreamings associated with its origins. This image, therefore, represents more than just a map to the artist; it is also about the ancestral history and spirit of that country and the Dreamings, or Tjukurrpa, for which the artist has responsibilities.

Rockholes West of Kintore Acrylic on Linen 92 x 92 cm 2009

Nyree Reynolds Nyree Reynolds (also known as Ngari Reynolds), painter, muralist and community artist is a Gamillaroi woman, who was born in Wollongong on the 7th May 1948. She began drawing as a child and went on to study art at the St George Technical College in Kogarah NSW in 1964 and 1965. Of her work, Reynolds says that she gains great happiness in teaching others to recognise their own artistic abilities. In April 2001 Reynolds formed the Blayney Shire Youth Arts Council, and in December 2001 she was an artist tutor for youth workshops in Cowra as part of the Youth ArtStart Festival. In 2003 she taught visual art to Aboriginal art students at Bathurst and Orange TAFE campuses and organised an end of year exhibition of their work. In 2007 Reynolds was the Artistic Director of „CreatAbility“ which is a program funded through Regional Arts Fund that conducts workshops for disabled people in the central western regions of NSW. The exhibition at „The Awakenings Festival“ in Horsham, Victoria in October, 2006 was one of the outcomes of these workshops. Reynolds has been awarded a Seniors Week Ambassadorship for NSW in 2005 and 2006 in recognition of her work with disabled artists. She also received the Blayney Shire Australia Day Award in 2006 for recognition of her work in coordinating and mounting an exhibition of disabled artists work for the International Day of People With a Disability.

Story The young dance teacher is listening ....... within the breeze she can hear the voices of the Elders from years past telling her stories of the dance, telling her stories of her people. She can pass these stories of the dance to the little ones who when they are grown will pass them on to their little ones, thereby perpetuating the knowledge of the most ancient culture on earth. The six elders in the background represent 10,000 years each...60,000 years of Aboriginal culture, Aboriginal knowledge, Aboriginal Dreaming. Then there is the gap where there should be an Elder, but there is not. This gap signifies the Invasion, the halt to The Knowledge, the end of their world as they knew it. Nothing would ever be the same again. But now, quietly and with hope the Knowledge is slowly returning to the Aboriginal People. The Elder prepares the gum leaves for sweeping and clearing the ground before the dance, then the young teacher can begin her work with the young ones. The grasses in the foreground are the same grasses that can be found where my Aboriginal ancestor was born near Gilgandra in western NSW. This painting encompasses the Then and the Now. The Elders Knowing and the Elders Showing.

Elders Knowing – Elders Showing; Children Watching – Children Learning Acrylic and natural ochre on canvas 2009

Story This painting shows the girls from the Stolen Generations walking together, walking proudly, no longer being classed as flora or fauna due to the result of the 1967 Referendum which gave Aboriginal People the same rights as white Australians. The girls are wearing natural ochre on their foreheads as part of Ceremony and the lead girl is carrying gum leaves which is an example of flora that the People once were. One of our friends says her Grandmother used to be a tree, as was my Grandmother and all our ancestors after the Invasion and before the 1967 Referendum. 40 years later there is still a lot of healing to be done.

No longer flora Acrylic and natural ochre on canvas 75 cm x 100cm 2007

Story The young Stolen Generations children of the Wiradjuri Nation are led by their big sister out of the suppression of their past to the hopeful light of their new future due to the Day of the Apology, 13th February, 2008. They are daring to hope.

From the storm of their past to the light of their future Acrylic and natural ochre on canvas 2009

Roy McIvor Roy McIvor is a highly respected elder of the Hopevale community north of Cooktown and a member of the Guugu Yimithirr language group. He is Chairperson of the Arts and Cultural Centre at Hopevale and has been instrumental in its development. Roy has been developing his own contemporary art career for many years. In 2006, the Australia Council awarded Roy a grant to produce a new body of work for his exhibition at the Cairns Regional Gallery. Prior to this, he had twice won the Cape York Arts prize and his work has been included in Story Place, Gatherings and other leading group exhibitions and publications showcasing the works of Queensland artists. His work is also held in the collection of state art galleries and museums. McIvor has made some significant innovations with his work since receiving the Australia Council grant. While the artist maintains a strong link to the realm of traditional symbols and stories, at the same time he incorporates contemporary stories into his repertoire.These narratives are explored through contemporary painting and dynamic approaches to colour manipulation and composition. He was born at Cape Bedford Mission in 1934 and later moved to Spring Hill. Both were Lutheran sites north of Cooktown in Far North Queensland. In 1942, his family and the Cape Bedford Community were forcibly removed from the mission by the military to Woorabinda, near Rockhampton. Roy spent the final years of his formal schooling in Woorabinda. He recalls being inspired by the wife of a teacher, Mrs Jarrett. She was always complimenting and supportive of his artistic ability and was a artist herself. Mrs Jarrett had said to Roy, „I hope you keep doing art,“ and these words were the springboard into a life time interest and working in art for Roy. His curiosity and explorative nature have been expressed in the development of his artwork. Roy has experimented with many techniques and concepts for over 40 years, leaving him with a truly unique Indigenous style.

Story These recent paintings consolidate a life‘s repertoire of inspiration. They recall the emotional feeling he experienced when he first saw the cave art that is all around his Binthi homelands. „In Gugu Yimithirr language we call it Wawu - spiritual satisfaction. It is like an affirmation of perfect balance and wholeness.“

Dynamic Order #5 Synthetic polymer paint on canvas 120 x 90 cm 2009 56

Photographs & Layout by Maris Stoeppler 58