Nganampa Kampatjanka Uungutja Outstation – Art from Art Centres and Tjala Arts Are Proud to Present

Nganampa Kampatjanka Uungutja Outstation – art from art centres and Tjala Arts are proud to present Nganampa Kampatjanka Uungutja Behind Our Canvas A group exhibition Tiger Palpatja Ruby Williamson Hector Burton Tjungkara Ken Ray Ken Sylvia Kanytjupai Ken Brenton Ken Nita Williamson Alison Riley Wawiriya Burton Tjampawa Katie Kawiny and others Opening Friday August 12 at 4.30pm Showing August 8 - September 10, 2011. 8 Parap Place, Parap Northern Territory 0820 P : 08 8981 4822 F : 08 8981 4877 E : [email protected] W : www.outstation.com.au Director Matt Ward ‘Tjukurpa unnugtja Anangu tjutaku’ ‘Dreaming is really and deeply inside Anangu, it is Anangu’ Anangu tjutangku paintamilara tjana tjunanyi Tjukurpa irititja tjanampa ngura nguru. communities. Our stories are strongest when we paint in our country. The studios in town do Tjukurpa Anangu tjutangku wangkanyi canvas-tjanka Tjukurpa mulapa. Palu Tjukurpa kutjupa tjuta not get to do this. The white-fellers running shops in town don’t get to see this because in those tjana wangkanytja wiya. Pala paluru Tjukurpa kumpilpa canvas-tjanka unngutja. Tjana wangkanytja places, the artists don’t put this on the canvas. wiya panya Tjukurpa milmilpa. Tjana kanyilpa tjanampa Anangu tjutaku. Nyanga Tjukurpa kumpilpa We do sometimes go to exhibitions in towns and cities and tell the stories of the artworks. What tjuta tjanampa iritija tjuta nguru. Anangu tjuta para ngarapayi ngura kapi piti munu kapi piti kutjupa is important for us is not the picture, but the story. We can speak about the stories that are on the kutu kulu, munu Tjukurpa kumpilpa nguru Tjukurpa kumpilpa kutjupa kutu kulu. Tjukurpa kumpilpa surface of the artworks but inside, really at the bottom of that art is the story from the ancestors. tjuta putu Anangu tjutangku tjakultjunanyi canvas-tjangka munu putu tjakultjunanyi panya Tjukurpa This is the story that is hidden away - kept safe because it is sacred to Anangu. And that is the pulka mulapa ngaranyi kumpilpa Tjukurpa unngutja Anangu tjutaku. same way for all Anangu artists. When Anangu people paint, they are putting down old stories from their country. The Tjukurpa People sometimes say Anangu in communities are working for white fellers and not running their (Dreaming/Law) that Anangu tell on the canvas is their real story. But part of that story they do not tell. own Art Centres. I think people think Anangu are not capable of running their own businesses. That is the story hidden deep inside the canvas. They don’t reveal it because it is sacred Tjukurpa. This is not true. Anangu are smart business people too. At Tjala Arts, it is true that Anangu are They keep it for their own people. These sacred stories come from ancestors, when people travelled running their own show. We have workers- like Skye and Jo- and they do their work, but Anangu from rock-hole to rock-hole, sacred site to sacred site. There are secrets that people can’t talk about make the decisions and say how the business should be run. We are the best ones to know how in their canvas because big Tjukurpa is really deeply inside Anangu, it is Anangu. the business should be run in our own community. People from outside the APY Lands sometimes do not understand this but Art Centres are controlled by the Anangu members and the Directors I was born near Watarru in the far west of the APY lands near the Western Australian border, at a of the Art Centre. That is the point I’d like to make. place called Atuti. I grew up in that area, in my mother’s country and my grandfather’s country. My It is important that Anangu run their own business and know it’s their right. They have to be strong grandfather’s name is Mintjil and he is a Watarru man. He was born there, as was his daughter, my in running their own business in their own Art Centres. In some places off the APY Lands, the mother. She was born there too. companies are not Aboriginal owned and Anangu have no say. Community Art Centres are run I’ve worked in many places and on many jobs in the APY Lands. When I was young I did fencing, but by Anangu and community Art Centres belong to Anangu. This is the most important thing, for I’ve been a motor-car mechanic, aeroplane mechanic, Aboriginal Health Worker, and worked for APY Anangu to hold something for themselves. Land Management for nearly twenty years until I retired from that job. I also ran my own community Another important thing about Anangu Art Centres is that they are a good way of old people giving for over 12 years. Now I am working and helping the Art Centre at Amata, Tjala Arts. I work with the knowledge to young people. When an Anangu artist creates a painting, they are remembering what artists and the Art Centre managers. I talk to them, interpret stories and talk to the media, like SBS, the ancestors did and what the ancestors taught them. Bringing the stories up to the surface and ABC and newspapers, particularly when journalists want to come in and talk about art work. I am making them alive in people’s minds, means they are easy to pass on to the young ones. This is a doing all that now, talking to journalists about art work and what people do in Art Centres. very important thing. When old people pass away - and they will go soon – the young people have Artists in remote communities travel around country and go into caves and see the artwork of to have the stories behind them. I think everyone knows that this is important, for Aboriginal people their ancestors. They see what their ancestors did a long time ago and it comes out in their own to hold on to their culture. The place where this can happen is in the communities where we live, canvases. This is what you see in the paintings that the artists are making in Art Centres. This is supported by the Art Centres that we own, with our country and people all around us. the secret to their stories. They bring out the story of their ancestors from what they have seen FRANK YOUNG, Director of Tjala Arts and Chairperson of Amata Community, in rock paintings. I think people don’t understand that this is what is good about art centres in as told to John Tungku Tregenza. 2011. TIGER PALPATJA TIGER PALPATJA Wanampi Tjukurpa (Water Snake Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 1980 x 1225mm, 2011. Wanampi Tjukurpa (Water Snake Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1015mm, 2011. RUBY WILLIAMSON, NITA WILLIAMSON,SUZANNE WILLIAMSON & DONNA WILLIAMSON RUBY WILLIAMSON Puli Murpu (Mountain Story), acrylic on linen, 1980 x 1980mm, 2011. Puli Murpu (Mountain Story), acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1225mm, 2011. HECTOR BURTON RAY KEN Anumara Tjukurpa (Caterpillar Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1015mm, 2011. Ngintaka Tjukurpa (Lizard Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1225mm, 2010. TJAMPAWA KATIE KAWINY ALISON RILEY Seven Sisters Story, acrylic on linen, 1980 x 1980mm, 2011. Seven Sisters Story, acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1225mm, 2011. TJUNGKARA KEN TJUNGKARA KEN Tjala Tjukurpa (Honey Ant Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1225mm, 2011. Seven Sisters Story, acrylic on linen, 1980 x 1980mm, 2011. SYLVIA KEN SYLVIA KEN Seven Sisters Story, acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1225mm, 2011. Seven Sisters Story, acrylic on linen, 1980 x 1980mm, 2011. WAWIRIYA BURTON WAWIRIYA BURTON Ngayuku Mamaku Ngura (My Father’s Country), acrylic on linen, 1980 x 1225mm, 2011. Ngayuku Mamaku Ngura (My Father’s Country), acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1225mm, 2011. YARITJI YOUNG RINI TIGER Seven Sisters Story, acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1225mm, 2011. Ngintaka Tjukurpa (Lizard Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 1525 x 1015mm, 2011. SPECIAL THANKS All of the artists from Tjala Arts Frank Young Skye O’Meara Joanna Byrne Published in 2011 by Outstation – art from art centres Catalogue Compiled by Matt Ward and Jim Bell Images courtesy of Tjala Arts Copyright Outstation - art from art centres and Tjala Arts Driving in to Amata ISBN 978-0-980374-1-4 Front and back cover: SYLVIA KANYTJUpaI KEN: Seven Sisters Story, acrylic on linen, 1980 x 1980mm, 2011. .

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