contemporary art world. Typically large meandering canvases tell of complex, yet fundamental, stories of ownership and land rights fused with whimsical stories of creation handed from generation to generation.R E D O T F I N E A R T G A L L E R Y in conjunction with Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency The Spinifex artists continue to paint traditional stories and document kinship responsibilities and these works have become widely knownpresents in the fine art world as some of the most important modern contemporary Indigenous art pieces being produced today. This growing reputation is also gaining international acclaim and the works are now housed within major art and museum collections both in Australia and overseas, with recent acquisitions by the British Museum making headlines and a major show in Germany in 2013. This exhibition showcasing works by old master such as Fred Grant, Ned Grant, Roy Underwood, Estelle Hogan, Tjaruwa Woods and Lawrence Pennington, to mention but a few, opens on Wednesday, 14th May and runs till Saturday, 21st June 2014 and it is a must-see for Partof3modern contemporary Indigenous art, from anyone interested in following the development one of the Aboriginal art movements most remote, refreshing and innovative art centres.
Cory/Molly/Stumpy
Giorgio Pilla Director ReDot Fine Art Gallery
13 th August - 13 th September 2014
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c o n t e m p o r a r y
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Cory/Molly/Stumpy Following on from last year’s release of works from the estate of Paji Wajina Honeychild Yankarr, ReDot Fine Art Gallery is honoured and excited to be able to announce the estates and final works of three other senior women from the same community, the highly esteemed Wakartu Cory Surprise, Nyuju Stumpy Brown and Walka Molly Rogers. Simply titled ‘Cory/Molly/Stumpy’, this exhibition will celebrate their amazing talents with works both on canvas and paper, dating back over 20 years, blatant records of desert country with the recurring theme being the Jila (waterhole) of various sites in the Great Sandy Desert which is one of the major ancestral areas for their people. All three women were founding members of Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency in the early nineties and first exhibited work in the exhibition ‘Karrayili’ in Tandanya, Adelaide, 1991. They were also represented in Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria, 1993. They instantly gained national recognition and became part of the core group of
(New) Mangkaja Art Centre Source: © Mangkaja Arts
artists at the art centre who continued to paint and exhibit consistently throughout the 1990s and 2000s with their domestic appeal soon moving internationally. Cory and Stumpy eventually became two of the best known Indigenous artists in Australia and Molly creating a solid fan base for her whimsical portraits of Kimberley waterholes. They also jointly worked on the two eminent Ngurrara canvases in 1997, which were pivotal in proving the group’s connection to country and later led to their successful Ngurrara Native Title Claim. Nyuju’s effervescent, intuitive and brightly hued paintings reflect a spritely and engaging character that belies the hardships and cultural dislocation that she experienced in her long life. Wakartu on the other hand came to painting relatively late in life, at around the age of 50, after many years of rigorous station work. There’s nothing overly typical though about Wakartu’s paintings. In a community and art centre acclaimed for both its large-scale collaborations and major individual talents, Wakartu wielded a powerful blend of nononsense seniority and sheer, expressive originality. Walka blended effortlessly between the pair, contrasting, complimenting and threading together the complex stories these women had to tell. Wakartu’s bold compositions, restricted palette and sheer expressive originality had her admirers proclaiming her among Australia’s foremost abstract painters, Nyuju and Walka sat very close by on this scale. A never to be repeated show, there are over 50 works, from major canvases to exquisite small works on paper, capturing one of the most important bodies of Indigenous work to have left Australia in many years. The exhibition opens on Wednesday, 13th August and runs till Saturday, 13th September 2014 and it is a must-see for anyone interested in following the development of modern contemporary Indigenous art, from one of the Aboriginal art movements most refreshing and innovative art centres.
Giorgio Pilla Director ReDot Fine Art Gallery
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Birth Date Deceased Language Home
c. 1924 08/2011 Wangkajunga Great Sandy Desert
Nyuju was one of the senior artists at Mangkaja until her passing in 2011. Her effervescent, intuitive and brightly hued paintings reflected a spritely and engaging character that belies the hardships and cultural dislocation that Nyuju experienced in her long life. Perhaps the hardest of all was being removed from her ancestral lands around Ngapawarlu on the Canning Stock Route in the Great Sandy Desert. Nyuju’s relationship to her country was at the very core of her work. At a young age Nyuju was taken by her Uncle to the Catholic mission at Balgo Hills beyond the south east edge of the Kimberley. Here she learnt kartiya (white people) ways before moving to Fitzroy Crossing where she grew up and remained most of her life. She was the mother of three daughters by her late husband Pukulu and went on to marry another Mangkaja artist Hitler Pamba. She worked as a domestic at both Emmanuel and Bohemia Downs Stations, “We got no money for work. We got tea, meat and tobacco”. Within Mangkaja Nyuju not only enjoyed the companionship of other artists but also the earnings made from the sale of her work, which was a vastly contrasting experience of the first white contact she experienced on Stations. Nyuju was deeply involved with Wangkajunga law and tradition and was a leader of nyanpi or ceremonies. It was the intense knowledge of law and her love of the land that she poured into her artwork. Nyuju was one of a number of senior artists who painted the two huge Ngurrara canvases in 1996 to be used in a land rights action brought by people living in and around Fitzroy Crossing claiming some 800,000 hectares of Crown Land in the Great Sandy Desert from where they had been driven off in the 1950s and 1960s. These enormous ‘maps’ of the country show all the ‘living’ freshwater holes (jila) of these people across the expanse of the desert.
Source: © Mangkaja Arts
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Birth Date Deceased Language Home
c. 1924 08/2011 Wangkajunga Great Sandy Desert
Nyuju was one of the senior artists at Mangkaja until her passing in 2011. Her effervescent, intuitive and brightly hued paintings reflected a spritely and engaging character that belies the hardships and cultural dislocation that Nyuju experienced in her long life. Perhaps the hardest of all was being removed from her ancestral lands around Ngapawarlu on the Canning Stock Route in the Great Sandy Desert. Nyuju’s relationship to her country was at the very core of her work. At a young age Nyuju was taken by her Uncle to the Catholic mission at Balgo Hills beyond the south east edge of the Kimberley. Here she learnt kartiya (white people) ways before moving to Fitzroy Crossing where she grew up and remained most of her life. She was the mother of three daughters by her late husband Pukulu and went on to marry another Mangkaja artist Hitler Pamba. She worked as a domestic at both Emmanuel and Bohemia Downs Stations, “We got no money for work. We got tea, meat and tobacco”. Within Mangkaja Nyuju not only enjoyed the companionship of other artists but also the earnings made from the sale of her work, which was a vastly contrasting experience of the first white contact she experienced on Stations. Nyuju was deeply involved with Wangkajunga law and tradition and was a leader of nyanpi or ceremonies. It was the intense knowledge of law and her love of the land that she poured into her artwork. Nyuju was one of a number of senior artists who painted the two huge Ngurrara canvases in 1996 to be used in a land rights action brought by people living in and around Fitzroy Crossing claiming some 800,000 hectares of Crown Land in the Great Sandy Desert from where they had been driven off in the 1950s and 1960s. These enormous ‘maps’ of the country show all the ‘living’ freshwater holes (jila) of these people across the expanse of the desert.
Statement from Nyuju in 2003: “My paintings are about my country, my mothers’ country and my fathers’ country. I didn’t know my mother and my father. I lost them when I was young. We lived in desert country. I paint the waterholes and bush tucker found at those waterholes. We were living on bush tucker in the desert, on bush tucker only. I paint about the time before we knew kartiya. We were frightened of kartiya, we would hide behind the bushes because they might shoot us. Because we didn’t know white people we were afraid. We didn’t know what aeroplanes were, that noise was frightening, we hid down behind the bushes. My country is in the desert, the Great Sandy Desert. I lived in the desert with my mother and father but when I lost them I was found by Wally Darlington (Uncle) and he took me to the mission in Balgo. We were naked ‘till we got to Balgo, the missionaries give us clothes there. We learned about kartiya there at the mission in Balgo. The places I paint, Marntilajarra, Kurrkumalu, Kuwiyalpa, Larrikulu, Ngutukurangu, Nyirla,Walpa and Wararwara are some of the waterholes in my country. We collected water with marnma (coolaman) by digging the ground with it and then using that same tool to carry the water. We passed through rocky country and sandhill country. After the rain there was water lying in rock holes. There was also water lying on the surface, lakes formed in claypans on the plain country. There were plenty of places to drink in the wet time. After it dries a bit we had to dig for water at juljulpa (soakwater) and carry it with us. Since we got the shed at Mangkaja in Fitzroy Crossing I have been painting more than before. I can paint there a lot. Other artists are there and we can talk about those time in the desert and other things that were common with our people. I like that Mangkaja shed because other people are painting there too. I can share the history of our culture and our times in the desert and coming out of the desert to live. There have been a lot of changes in the way we live now and painting is part of that change. Painting helps with the changes that have happened. My painting is important to my people because we don’t have to worry about what people are doing. We can sell paintings and not rely on bush tucker to live. Although we live in Fitzroy Crossing and at Wangkatjunga now, the connection with the desert is alive within our culture. It is my country that I paint, my fathers’ country and my mothers’ country.”
Collections National Museum of Australia National Gallery of Victoria Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia Northern Territory University
Solo Exhibition 2006 The Colours of Water, A Collection of Works by Nyuju Stumpy Brown, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore 2003 Nyuju Stumpy Brown – My Country, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Works on Canvas
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Ngapawarlu Waterhole Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 180 x 90cm pc657/05
This is Canning Stock Route, Burrakaburraka Country Great Sandy Desert. I walk all the way through the sandhill country. I have been cooking for the Camel mob long time ago.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Jumu and Warla Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 140 x 100cm pc496/04
This is a painting about the soakwater waterholes and claypan waterholes of the Canning Stock Route.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Nyila Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 90 x 90cm 467/07
This country is called Nyila. It is rocky country. After the wet, when the water has dried up, there is green grass around the jila (permanent waterhole), between the jilji (sandhills). The pamarr (rocks) and jilji (sandhills) are all red. It is good country for hunting. I was born near to this place, on the southern end of the Canning Stock Route.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Warla Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 90 x 60cm pc571/06
This is a lake (warla) in my country.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Ngapawarlu Jila Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 90 x 60cm pc575/06
Ngapawarlu jila is a waterhole in my Country, the Great Sandy desert. I was born here in this country, I belong here to this jila now.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Jila Country Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 85 x 60cm 75/13
This jila country is south of Canning Stock Route. Ngarragkarni (dreamtime) women camped and stayed here. They had food and kept walking.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Nyilu Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 85 x 60cm 74/13
This Country is called Nyilu. When the rain season comes, there is water and the desert comes to life. There is water in rockholes and along the creeks (karru) on other side of Canning Stock Route where I was born.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Ngapawarla Jila Atelier Acrylic Paint on 11oz Canvas 80 x 60cm 29/07
Ngapawarla is a jila (waterhole) in my country in the Great Sandy Desert, I was born at this jila, I belong here to this jila now.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Wirrakuja Atelier Artist Acrylic on 11oz Cotton Duck 100 x 45cm pc270/05
Long way out near the Canning Stock Route in my country, we call it Burrakaburraka country in the Great Sandy Desert. This is jilji (sandhill) country. I came from the Canning Stock Route all the way down to here, I walked all that way. I had been working and cooking for them cattle mob, long time ago. The two top circles are Jila (waterholes) the bottom two are jumu (soakwater) from that country.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Ngapawarlu Waterhole Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 60 x 45cm pc472/07
This is where I was born in the Great Sandy Desert, my families’ country Ngapawarlu country.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Wirrakuja Atelier Acrylic Paint on 14oz Canvas 60 x 30cm 562/06
Long way out near the Canning Stock Route in my country, we call it Burrakaburraka country in the Great Sandy Desert. This is jilji (sandhill) country. I came from the Canning Stock Route all the way down to here, I walked all that way. I had been working and cooking for them cattle mob, long time ago. The two top circles are Jila (waterholes) the bottom two are jumu (soakwater) from that country.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Walpa Warla Atelier Artist Acrylic on 11oz Cotton Duck 60 x 30cm pc159/05
This is a well on the Canning Stock Route. There is a wheel driven by bullocks to draw water. It is in my country the Great Sandy Desert.
Works on Paper
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Warla Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 150 x 100cm 73/13
This is my husband’s country Warla. When the rain comes it fills the waterhole up and when it gets dry, the lake turns to saltlake, that’s why we call it salty water (kara).
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Jumu Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 106 x 76cm wp230/96
This waterhole is in the Canning Stock Route region of the Great Sandy Desert.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Jumu Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 105 x 76cm wp224/04
These are jumu (waterholes) in my country; the Canning Stock Route region of the Great Sandy Desert.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Kukupanyu Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 105 x 75cm wp174/96
This is Kukapanyu when you pass Pangku. It is in the South East of Kukupanyu and we used to walk to this place where there is water here. We lived here many years ago a place called Kulayi big Jila. Old people hide in the water and wait for the birds to come to drink water before catching, cooking and eating them. They are good tucker to eat.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Three Jumu (Soakwater) Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 100 x 45cm 6/06
These are three dried up soakwaters in the Great Sandy desert, in my country near Ngapuwarla.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Ngapawarlu Country Atelier Acrylic on Paper 76 x 56cm wp096/01
I was born here at Ngapawarlu we used to live here, hunting and going walkabout with the families before the white people came. Now we live on flour, tea and sugar.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Jila Atelier Acrylic, 200gsm Fabriano 76 x 56cm 222/09
This is a jila (waterhole) in my country way out, long way near the Canning Stock Route.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Wirrakuja Atelier Acrylic, 200gsm Fabriano 76 x 56cm wp589/92
Long way out near the Canning Stock Route in my country we call it Burrakaburraka country in the Great Sandy Desert. This is jilji (sandhill) country. I came from the Canning Stock Route all the way down to here I walked all that way. I have been working and cooking for them cattle mob, long time ago.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Nyilalwas Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 76 x 56cm 163/12
This country called Nyilalwas. I was born near this place on the southern end of the Canning Stock Route. When the rain comes it fills up the rockholes and creek (karru), good country to go hunting.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Karlaya (Emu) Atelier Acrylic, 200gsm Fabriano 76 x 56cm 693/09
Karlaya (Emu) have been have before Wally Darlington picked me up took me to Balgo. I’m trying to remember which waterhole.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Yirri Atelier Acrylic, 200gsm Fabriano 76 x 56cm 692/09
This is Yirri (Spring/living Water) we camped here traveling from Fitzroy Crossing to Balgo.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Salt Lake Claypan Acrylic Matt Paint, 300gsm S & W paper 76 x 56cm 76/13
This painting is all about saltlake waterholes and claypan we used to travel as families through this land many years ago.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Wapawarlu Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 76 x 53cm wp348/01
This is a big lake. 7 sisters travelled here from the coast across country. They stopped here because they were getting weak. They stayed here. It is not good water for drinking from the warla (lake). We drink from the living water nearby. After awhile those sisters kept travelling but while they were there they had a women’s business meeting. All other women came from all over. One old man, Utia, was following them because he wanted to get a wife. When he came out and those women saw him he frightened them all away. He had too much stick.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Kurrkumalu Atelier Acrylic, 200gsm Fabriano 76 x 53cm 696/09
Kurrkumalu is a waterhole spring, living water. Kurrkumalu is in the middle with other waterholes around it. Grass and trees grow around the waterholes, which make a good shade to sit in after a long day’s walk.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Warla Atelier Acrylic, 200gsm Fabriano 76 x 53cm 695/09
This is a well on the Canning Stock Route in the Great Sandy Desert. My families used to walk this land many years ago.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Ngapawarlu Atelier Acrylic, 200gsm Fabriano 75 x 53cm 694/09
Ngapawarlu is a big lake along the Canning stock route. This is my country.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Kukupanyu Atelier Artist Acrylic, 250gsm Velin Arches Paper 65 x 50cm 77/13
This is at Kukupanyu when you pass Pingka, which is South East of Kukupanyu. We walked down to this place, there is water there, we have ngurrara, a place to live here.You can reach this place through Kulyayi , to the Big Jila. The old old people get inside. They hide in the water and wait for birds to come, Klig Klig. They grab their legs and throw them, kill them and eat them. Plenty of people have come to this place.
Nyuju Stumpy BROWN
Wirrakuja Derivan Matisse Acrylic - 250gsm Velin BKF Rives 53 x 38cm wp067/96
Long way out near the Canning Stock Route in my country we call it Burrakaburraka country in the Great Sandy Desert. This is jilji (sandhill) country. I came from the Canning Stock Route all the way down to here I walked all that way. I have been working and cooking for them cattle mob, long time ago.
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