Featuring artworks from Tjala Arts, Amata & Tjungu Palya, Nyapari, APY Lands, SA

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Kaye is a senior Tiwi culture woman. She is well versed in the old ways, traditional stories and speaks the ‘hard’ Tiwi language.

Kaye started painting at Jilamara Arts and Craft later in life after she retired from work. Prior to this she taught at the local primary school and worked at the library. She loves teaching culture to the local primary school children who come to Jilamara for culture classes. She has a wealth of local knowledge about Tiwi culture and the history of the Tiwi people and ancestors.

She uses the Kayimwagakimi (carved ironwood comb) and natural ochres for Melville Island to paint. Her jilamara (body paint design) and pwoja (body) styles are very layered and reminiscent of some of the old Tiwi artists and the body painting styles hey used to prepare for ceremony and yoi (dance).

Kaye paints on bark, canvas and paper, but is particularly drawn to painting on stringybark sourced from around Milikapiti. Although relatively new to the art centre, Kaye is gaining recognition as a leading female artist at Jilamara. She is set to have her first solo exhibition in 2020 and was a finalist in the NATSIAA Bark category in 2018. She made her first limited edition print in 2017 and also has a very successful design as part of Jilamara’s screen printed textiles line.

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Kaye is a senior Tiwi culture woman. She is well versed in the old ways, traditional stories and speaks the ‘hard’ Tiwi language.

Kaye started painting at Jilamara Arts and Craft later in life after she retired from work. Prior to this she taught at the local primary school and worked at the library. She loves teaching culture to the local primary school children who come to Jilamara for culture classes.

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This is how we see 'em presents the work of three leading Aboriginal artists from Spinifex Hill Studio in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.  

Spinifex Hill Studio is home to one of the youngest Aboriginal art collectives in the north-west of Australia, Spinifex Hill Artists. 

It is a place where people come together to connect through a passion for family, culture, and art. 

“Everyone here is all related or connected, there’s no arguments, there’s happy feelings in here.” – Sheila Gardiner, daughter of Nyaparu (William) Gardiner (1943-2018) and Nyangulya Katie Nalgood. 

This couldn’t be truer for exhibiting artists Nyangulya Katie Nalgood, the late Nyaparu (William) Gardiner, and Winnie Sampi, who have shared a unique bond at the art centre.  

Nyangulya Katie Nalgood and Winnie both migrated from the Kimberley region, and Spinifex Hill Studio has worked as a place to connect them.  

Nyaparu (William) Gardiner and Winnie Sampi re-connected at Spinifex Hill Studio having gone to school together. Nyaparu would always bring his guitar into the art centre and everyone would sing along with him. 

Even though Nyaparu (William) Gardiner has passed way, Nyangulya and Winnie still continue to share photos and memories with one another, and enjoy seeing each other at the art centre. It means they can still stay connected and stay connected to him. 

In this exhibition, Nyangulya Katie Nalgood's representational paintings celebrate and document birds of Western Australia, the diverse feathered creatures filling her personal history as well as cultural life. Winnie Sampi's paintings offer detailed landscapes of Western Australia, and the late Nyaparu (William) Gardiner's paintings offer insight into his experience of the 1946 Pilbara strike, and his work on pastoral stations throughout the Pilbara and Kimberley. 

© Spinifex Hill Studio, Port Hedland, WA

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This is how we see 'em presents the work of three leading Aboriginal artists from Spinifex Hill Studio in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.  

Spinifex Hill Studio is home to one of the youngest Aboriginal art collectives in the north-west of Australia, Spinifex Hill Artists. 

It is a place where people come together to connect through a passion for family, culture, and art.