Archives: Art Centers

Titjikala is a small community of approximately 220 residents, 107 km south of Mparntwe / Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. This tiny town lies in the traditional lands of the Eastern Arrernte people in the midst of a series of red claypans on the western fringe of the Simpson Desert. A broad, expansive landscape, rich in rocky outcrops, undulating ridges, gorges and dry river beds, the country surrounding Titjikala is stark and arid and incredibly beautiful. Orange and red ochres, sage greens, endless horizons and blue, blue skies. This landscape is reflected in the artists’ paintings, while the flora and fauna inspire sculptural works in mixed media. The recent history of the region is also told in intricately detailed figurative sculptures created using recycled materials and often featuring camels, horses and people in mustering and rodeo vignettes. The art centre in Titjikala also has a gallery space open to visitors to the community.

Established in 2005, Tangentyere Artists is a not-for-profit enterprise and a hub for art activities across the Town Camps (the name describing 18 Aboriginal housing associations of Mparntwe / Alice Springs). Through their art, Town Camp artists communicate stories about their families, identity and lives. Their art practice aims to highlight the everyday experience of Aboriginal people in Central Australia. When sharing stories, artists place themselves in the national conversation, working towards understanding and reconciliation. Tangentyere is an Arrernte word that means ‘coming together, working together’.

Tangentyere Artists operates a studio, gallery space, and outreach program. To support young artists, the online store Town Camp Designs was created in 2020. Today, Town Camp Designs are stocked in the public gallery stores of most Australian capital cities, and the range now includes ceramics.

Tangentyere Artists is committed to innovative, sustainable fine art outcomes for Town Camp artists.

In Western Australia’s Great Victoria Desert on the northern outskirts of the vast Nullarbor Plain lies Tjuntjuntjara, a small and extremely isolated community that is home to the Spinifex People. The Spinifex Arts Project was established in 1997 to record and document ownership of the Spinifex area. As proof of ownership, the senior men and women produced two large collaborative works known as the Native Title paintings. They were fundamental to the Spinifex People’s successful Native Title claim in 2000 of over 55,000 square km of country.

Over the past 26 years, Spinifex artists have become widely known in the art world, securing their place among the most significant and important artists of the Western Desert region.

Spinifex Arts Project-tu mulapa nganampa tjantungku. Nganampa walka nganampa ngura kutupa tjuṯa maḻaku mantjintjaku alpamilaṉu. Panya paluṟu warka wiṟu nganampa munu Tjukurpa kuṉpu kanyini munu Aṉangu tjuṯa pika wiya nyinanyi munula tjimari mantjilpai. Nganaṉa art centre-ku kuṉpu puḻkaringantjaku kala tjitji tjuṯangku nintiringkula ngananalanguṟu kala nganampa Tjukurpa rawa kanyilpai.

The Spinifex Arts Project truly belongs to us. Painting helped us get our land back. It’s good work for keeping our culture strong, our people healthy and earning some money. All of us must grow the art centre up to be strong so the young people can learn from us and keep our Tjukurpa (Stories) going.

The Papunya Tula Art Movement began in 1971 when a group of local men painted a school
wall in Papunya – an Aboriginal community approximately 245 km north-west of Mparntwe / Alice Springs. The murals sparked off tremendous interest in the community, and soon many men started painting. In 1972 the artists successfully established their own company. The company is entirely owned and directed by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert, predominantly of the Luritja/Pintupi language groups. It has 49 shareholders and now represents around 120 artists, men and women.

Following the homelands movement of the 1980s, the company constructed studios in the newly established communities of Walungurru / Kintore, and Kiwirrkura, extending operations into Western Australia as far as 700 km west of Mparntwe. The Papunya Tula painting style derives directly from the artists’ knowledge of traditional body and sand painting associated with ceremony. Portraying these ancestral stories for the public has required the removal of sacred symbols and the careful monitoring of ancestral designs.

The aim of the company is to promote individual artists, provide economic development for the communities to which they belong, and assist in the maintenance of a rich cultural heritage. The art centre has also assisted in fundraising for the artists’ communities, including building a swimming pool at Walungurru, and remote area dialysis services.

Papunya Tjupi Arts is a 100% Aboriginal owned and directed community arts organisation based in Papunya, the birthplace of the Western Desert painting movement.

The artists of Papunya Tjupi have established their own unique identity based on the legacy of their forefathers. The art centre, located approximately 245 km north-west of Mparntwe / Alice Springs, supports emerging artists and some of Australia’s leading contemporary painters.

Papunya Tjupi Arts was established in 2007, and currently consists of 150 artists from Papunya and surrounding outstations, who are renowned for their strong line-work and for continuously developing new ways to tell the old stories. In 2018–19 Papunya Tjupi constructed a dedicated men’s studio, which has encouraged the participation of young men from the community. Central to Papunya Tjupi is the understanding that painting is an important part of culture and connection to country, and that the teaching and passing on of knowledge is what keeps the community’s future strong.

Papulankutja Artists is an Aboriginal owned non-for-profit corporation operating in Blackstone Community on the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in Western Australia. Papulankutja (Blackstone) community is approximately 900kms west of Alice Springs and 1575kms north-east of Perth. The art centre like most across the Ngaanyatjarra Lands was originally a women’s centre where painting was encouraged as an activity for both men and women since the mid 1980’s. As the Aboriginal art market boomed it became necessary to establish a framework that protects the artists. Papulankutja Artists was officially established in 2003. Five years later in 2009 Papulankutja Artists moved into a purpose built art centre. The art centre until today extends services to artists in Mantamaru (Jameson) community, 75kms to the west of Papulankutja.

The artists have participated in major collaborative exhibitions over the years including Songlines: Tracking The Seven Sisters, and Ngurra with annual participation in key industry events such as Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Revealed Exhibition for Emerging Aboriginal Artists, Desert Mob and Tarnanthi to name but a few. Papulankutja Artists are also well-known for their soap production, a unique offering of remedial healing filled with bush medicine from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands.

Warumungu lands cover a huge area, three or four different kinds of country. From mangkurru (plains) to wangarri (hills) and purnukurr (swamp country). In the summer we’ll go swimming! Roughly the boundary would be about 100 kays kankurru (south) of here to Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles. Then you go kajunu (north) about 120 kays, 250 kays kakuru (east). Not too far karu (west), pretty much right here. Warrego is the boundary. The area is not that wide, but there’s a lot of diversity. And it’s rich, our manu (country).

Joseph Williams Jungarrayi

Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre is located on Warumungu land, and is home to the Nyinkka (the Spiky-tailed Goanna), a sacred and powerful ancestral being and Wirnkarra (Dreaming). At the heart of Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre lie the sacred rocks where the Nyinkka resides.

Ninuku Arts was founded in 2006 by a small group of Pitjantjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra artists in a little mudbrick building in Kaḻka Community, located in the far north-west corner of South Australia. Currently, the art centre supports a rotating roster of close to 40 artists and makers living in Kaḻka and Piipalyatjara, which are the most remote communities of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands). The studio is the social and cultural beating heart of both communities. It is a place not only to sit and work alongside family, but to talk and share stories of the near and distant past. The art centre exhibits work nationally and internationally, and its artists are known for their powerful colour palettes as well as their respective styles, techniques and mediums. While the origins of Ninuku’s creative output lie in the traditions of Western Desert dot painting, the artists have incorporated loose brush techniques as well as tjanpi (desert grass) and puṉu (wood) sculpture into their practices.

Irrunytju Community is close to the Western Australia/South Australian border at the base of a Minyma Kutjara (Two Women) site. The original art centre, Irrunytju Arts, opened in 2000, and within a couple of years the artists were achieving international success – Tommy Watson was commissioned for a permanent installation of his artwork within the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. The Irrunytju Cultural Heritage Collection, a body of culturally significant works created by the artists for future generations, is held at the Tjulyuru Cultural Centre in Warburton, WA.

Irrunytju Arts closed in 2007 and in 2012 reopened as Minyma Kutjara Arts Project. This was a new and exciting enterprise initiated by the community to support their artists. In 2020 Minyma Kutjara Arts Project secured funding to renovate the original painting shed, purchase materials and employ a full-time arts manager.

Minyma Kutjara (Two Women) is a highly significant Tjukurpa (creation story) that traces the landscape, travelling from South Australia through the Central Desert to Kaḻṯukatjara / Docker River in the Northern Territory. It is one of the most important Tjukurpa and women’s stories.

Mimili Maku Arts is a vibrant, contemporary art studio and cultural centre owned and governed by a strong board of Aṉangu directors. The art centre is in Mimili Community on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) in the far north-west of South Australia.

Mimili Maku Arts is a place for intergenerational exchange and learning, where Aṉangu knowledge is maintained and lived daily. The centre is a thriving cultural space, celebrating Aṉangu knowledge, and connecting cultural leaders with the broader contemporary art discourse. Being a culturally safe workplace within which intergenerational learning can happen, the art centre offers professional development and employment opportunities to the next generation of Aṉangu in Mimili.

Mimili Maku Arts’ mission is to support future generations of Aṉangu to continue living on country while being able to access an independent and culturally affirming income through art-making. The centre is a space for artistic excellence as well as a platform to tackle the many social challenges experienced by Aṉangu living on the APY Lands. Home to some of Australia’s most celebrated artists, such as Betty Kuntiwa Pumani, Tuppy Ngintja Goodwin, Robert Fielding and the late Kunmanara (Mumu Mike) Williams, Mimili artists are renown for experimental, culturally potent and distinctive art forms.

The art centre’s core business is the creation of artwork, and the income created through art sales enables us to continually respond to the needs of community and follow the overarching vision of our Elders to educate the next generation of Aṉangu growing up on country and to support continued cultural practices and knowledge of the land.