2020 Timothy Cook

Timothy Cook
19 November - 19 December 2020

Aboriginal & Pacific Art In association with Jilamara Arts & Crafts, Melville Island, NT is proud to present our twelfth solo show of Timothy Cook.

Timothy Cook Catalogue

2020 Our Art Makes Us Happy (we hope it makes you happy too!)

Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, Tangentyere Artists
22 October - 14 November 2020
An exhibition featuring works on paper by Trudy Inkamala and soft sculptures by Yarrenyty Arltere Artists

And paintings by Tangentyere Artists, Alice Springs, NT

Tangentyere Artists Catalogue

Yarrenyty Arltere Artists and Tangentyere Artists represent artists from the town camps around Alice Springs, andhave become known for their highly individual expressions of town camp life. The artists come together in this exhibition to share their stories through brightly coloured paintings and whimsical soft sculptures.

2020 Spring Group Show

Tjungu Palya, Tjala Arts
2 September - 17 October 2020

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

2020 Kaye Brown: Yirrinkiripwoja

Jilamara Arts
3 - 25 July 2020

View exhibition catalogue


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.

2020 Sonia Kurarra

Mangkaja Arts
26 May - 20 June 2020

VIEW CATALOGUE ONLINE



Aboriginal & Pacific Art and Mangkaja Arts of Fitzroy Crossing present a new collection of paintings by Sonia Kurarra.

These recent works show an artist reaching new heights in their exploration of paint application and colour.  Sonia fearlessly combines mark making using acrylic pens and graffiti markers alongside paint lushly applied with her brush to create sensational contemporary paintings.

Sonia paints the sandy billabong country along the stretch of the Fitzroy River that runs directly behind the Yungngora (Noonkanbah) community, situated in a remote part of the West Kimberley Region of Western Australia. After the food waters recede, there are billabongs that hold a plentiful supply of parlka [barramundi], kurlumajarti [catish] and bream. She paints gapi [fish], parrmarr [rocks] where the Fish is cooked, ngurti [coolamon] and a karli [boomerang].

During the Covid-19 global pandemic outbreak Sonia sadly lost her older sister. For the last two months Sonia has been confined to the inner walls at Guwardi Aged care where she lives at Fitzroy Crossing to keep her safe. Sonia has been unable to see family or return home to her community so as to follow the normal procedures for sorry business. It has been an even more difficult time for her amongst the upheaval of these unprecedented times.

Continuing on to make the last few paintings for this show, Sonia’s remarkable creative force holds even greater significance. Immersing herself in depictions of her precious river country has brought some solace as she awaits the time she can to family and properly mourn the loss of her sister.

 

- Natalie McCarthy, 2020

2020 This is how we see 'em

Spinifex Hill Studio
21 April - 23 May 2020

View exhibition catalogue with prices



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

2020 Daughters of Law

Yirrkala
7 March - 18 April 2020

Rerrkirrwaŋa Munuŋgurr, Marrnyula Munuŋgurr and Djirrirra Wunuŋmurra

As the cultural revolutions of the sixties and seventies swept through mainstream Australian society there was a lesser known quiet revolution taking place in East Arnhem around the art hub of Yirrkala.

Specifically a group of men consciously loosened the restrictions on women painting sacred art that had held for millennia. This show is made up of artists who would not have painted but for that decision. In the case of Marrnyula and Rerrkirrwaŋa they are sisters. Their father Djutjadjutja Munuŋgurr was born around the time of the advent of Europeans in 1935 (d.1999). His father Woŋgu was perhaps the main actor in the contact era conflict and its resolution. His wife, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili is now world famous as a contemporary artist. She and her daughters started their artistic career assisting Djutjadjutja in rendering his sacerd muny’tji. He then encouraged them to paint in their own right. Like Djutja himself, Noŋgirrŋa and Rerrkirrwaŋa have each won major art awards since.

The same can be said of Djirrirra who is a multiple award winner herself. Her first publicly acknowledged work was in assisting her father Yaŋgarriny  Wunuŋmurra (1931-2003) in the monumental bark painting which won him First Prize in the 1997 National ATSI Art Award.

Most of these knowledge and authority transfers were a conscious pro-active liberated decision by these fathers. An attempt to buttress the Law and empower their children as its defenders. What happened after that we can see in this exhibition where the women took that authority and explored their creative potential to its fullest.

- Will Stubbs, Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, 2020

2020 Summer Group Show

Jilamara Arts, Maningrida Arts and Culture, Arnhem Land, Papulankutja Artists, Papunya Tula, Balgo Art
15 - 29 February 2020