“ I was born in Paramita near Indulkana in the bush, and was given my name at Todd Morden station. As a boy I was grown up by my sister in the nearby station Amuroona, then as a young man in Mimili. I spent much of my working life as a stockman in the northern lands of South Australia before returning to my father’s country, Uluru. I was strong from hard work on horses, but my brother Cassidy was quicker. Mostly we looked after cattle, and sometimes camels. Had to be careful as they were mean…bite you.”

As a well-known traditional owner of Uluru, Reggie took part in the official handback by the Australian Federal Government in 1985. He worked as a ranger in the jointly managed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park before becoming a tour guide with Anangu Tours.

He has taught countless visitors his ancestral lore and is a leading elder in Mutitjulu community and senior singer for ceremony at Uluru.

“I feel proud to teach young ones about Country, my Tjukurpa, our learning stories, about family ancestors, how to find waterholes and best tucker. Show them the right way, connection to culture how my father taught me long time ago. I now live at old people’s (aged care) in Mutitjulu, where I paint Wati Ngintaka (Perentie Lizard Man).”

- Reggie Uluru

Courtesy of Walkatjara Art Uluru 2023

Tanya Singer (Yankunytjatjara Peoples) is Minyma Anangu, an Aboriginal woman who comes from a family of artists and makers. She, her mother Sadie Singer, her sister Trisha Singer and brother Bernard Singer are punu (wood) carvers who worked for many years with Maruku Arts. Tanya is a mother to three daughters, sits on important boards and works as a translator. Instructed in traditional carving by her grandmothers, aunts and mothers, Tanya brings her own flair and attention to detail to her work.

Our name, Maruku, literally means “belonging to black”. This is because Maruku is owned and operated by Anangu (Aboriginal people from the Western and Central Deserts of Australia). For over 30 years Maruku has operated as a not-for-profit art and craft corporation.

Our logo is ‘tali’ design. ‘Tali’ means sand dunes. You will see this pattern describing country is significant throughout our artists’ art and woodcarvings. The desert, this sand dune country is what they call home.

Approximately 900 Anangu artists make up the collective that is Maruku. Our purpose is to keep culture strong and alive, for future generations of artists and make culture accessible in an authentic way to those that seek a more in-depth understanding. We also provide an important form of income to artists living in remote communities across Anangu lands.

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Byron was born circa 1951 between Tjawar and Tjintirkara between a significant men’s , Wati Kutjara ( Two Men) and women’s, Kungkara (Seven Sisters) dreaming tracks adjacent to the SA border. Byron was transported to Cundeelee Mission via Kulkapin as a 10-12 year old boy.

Although Cundeelee was over 500 kilometres from the closest point in the Spinifex homelands, life in Byron’s teenage years and entry into manhood would have been quite similar, in a concentrated form, to life in Spinifex. The Cundeelee missionaries (most unusual for those times), did not attempt to erase language and culture. In fact some encouraged and assisted in the logistics around cultural activity and some learnt and became proficient in the language. The Spinifex people lived in moving camps around the mission settlement in country not dissimilar to areas in Spinifex.

Traditionally the disparate nomadic family groups could only come together in good seasons for cultural business. Here at Cundeelee these pre-conditions were a constant and the dissemination of Spinifex knowledge and cultural activity thrived.

Although he was not part of the Elders group who orchestrated the return to country when Byron returned to Spinifex in the mid1980s he immersed himself in to all things cultural as if making up for lost time. He started on the Men’s native title painting in 1997 and consistently painted thereafter collaboratively and individually. With his thirst for tradition at Cundeelee, Byron managed to infuse within his consciousness the deep knowledge of country, its stories and patterns and to express them in his prolific work.

As a collaborative artist Byron has works in international and Australian collections and was a finalist in the WA Indigenous Art Awards, Perth, W.A, in 2008.

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Billy Cooley was born on a cattle station and spent much of his life as a stockman. He and his Pitjantjatjara wife, Lulu have always worked closely together raising their six children and making spectacular carvings on their home land near Amata. They have been long term directors of Maruku, working closely with management for decades. In recent years the couple have participated in many exhibitions and carving demonstrations at Uluru as well as nationally and overseas. Billy and Lulu now take great pride in passing on their skills not only to their children but grandchildren as well.

Imiyari was born in Ernabella in 1954. She is an accomplished batik artist, tjanpi weaver, an expert beanie (mukata) maker and painter. She is the mother of Priscilla Adamson, another up and coming ceramic artist. She has works in the collections of the National Museum of Australia and the National Museum of Scotland.

In 2012 Imiyari was a finalist in the Togart Contemporary Art Awards.

She recently began to develop her own unique style of painting. Her recent paintings have been exhibited at Araluen Art Centre as part of the Desert Mob, Rising Stars at Outstation Gallery, Darwin, Short Street Gallery in Broome, APY Gallery in Adelaide and Aboriginal Signature in Brussels.

Born circa 1956, Pukatja (Ernabella), Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yangkunytjatjara (APY) Lands, South Australia. Lives and works Rocket Bore, Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, South Australia. Pitjantjatjara people.

Yaritji Young’s multidisciplinary practice incorporates both individual and collaborative work. Young’s works often draw upon the Tjala (Honey Ant) Dreaming, and are created as a means through which to convey her knowledge of country and culture to younger generations. Young’s collaborative work has been produced with Tjala Arts, the Tjanpi Desert Weavers, and the Ken Sisters Collaborative.

Young’s first solo exhibition Yaritji Young: Walytjapitiku Laina - Family Lines was held at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne in 2017. Group exhibitions include Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters, National Museum of Australia, Canberra (2017-18); TARNANTHI, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2017); Nganampa Kililpil – Our Stars, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea, New South Wales (2016); MCA Collection: Today Tomorrow Yesterday, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2016); Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory (2014); String Theory: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2013 and touring nationally 2013-15); HEARTLAND – Contemporary Art from South Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2013); Deadly: in-between heaven and hell, 2012 Adelaide Festival, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide (2012) and Tjala Artists. Anangu maruku mulapa – This is our real way, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne (2011).

Yaritji Young’s work is held in a number of collections including Artbank, Australia; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.

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Rene grew up in Ernabella and Amata in the north of South Australia before marrying and moving to Docker River and later Mutitjulu. Her parents Walter Pukutiwara and Topsy Tjulyata, were acclaimed wood carvers and founders of Maruku Arts. Rene is a member of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board of Joint Management, the NPY Women’s Council Executive, and the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir. Rene was also a founding director of Walkatjara Art and a current director and previous chair of Maruku. Rene spends much of her time travelling as both artist and advocate for her people.

Dianne Strangways is minyma Anangu, an Aboriginal woman based in the community of Indulkana on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands of northern South Australia. She works there as a Health worker in the local clinic where her role includes helping with information sharing, advocacy and liaison across the community and advising non-indigenous staff on culture. She is also a member of the Nganampa Health Council. Dianne is a prolific, talented and committed artist. Her work has been exhibited overseas and she is rapidly gaining a reputation for her individual approach to her piti walkatjara (decorated traditional bowls) with her bold tjala (honey ants) and other traditional bush foods. She has also developed her own unique style of animal carving.

Ian Rictor was born at Artulin / Tuwan c1955 and is a custodian and traditional owner of Tuwan a significant site in the heart of Spinifex Country. Ian paints with a quiet reverence for the country that he depicts, from his relatively recent nomadic movements over the endless interior that makes up Spinifex Lands. Ian walked from water source to food source and beyond. This was a cultural and family existence for survival in an arid land before his family were located and' brought in' by relatives in 1986, and they are the last of the known Aboriginal people to have remained living traditionally in the Great Victoria Desert.

Ian's compositions center on the life affirming sites he depicts and each are multi layered with meaning. Many are surrounded with secrecy and only surface details can be recorded. His site of Tuwan is where the Tjulpu Tjuta Tjukurpa (Many Birds Creation Line) manifests. This is an epic Mens’ Creation narrative that follows the journey south of the Wati Nyii Nyii (Zebra Finch Men) where they place their many spears to save the world from being inundated with floodwaters.

In 1997 when the Spinifex Arts Project first began Ian was keen to join the group of painters. He took to the medium of paint on canvas with fluency and has been painting his birthplace and surrounding country since then and has exhibited and been collected in both Australia and overseas. Ian is an impressive and skilled hunter, bush mechanic and craftsman who lives in Tjuntjuntjara Community with his wife Kathleen Donnegan, also an artist and their extended family.

Kathryn Queama is minyma Anangu, a Pitjantjatjara woman from the Central Desert area of Australia. As well as working in the Docker River Store and for regional organisation, Nyangatjatjara Aboriginal Corporation, she has been learning carving from her mother in law, Nyinku Kulitja. Her traditional skills have been passed on through the Tjukurpa, the Law and way of life governing their country.

Brett Jennings is Ngaanyatjarra Man from Western Australia. He grew up around Leonora and went also to school in Leonora. He went to high school in Karlgooli. In the early 70s he returned to Warburton.  He came to find his father and stayed ever since. In the 90s he met Adele Hunt and got married. The couple has 3 children and work together as a team making punu. He has family in Wiluna, Leonora, Kalgoorlie and Warburton Community. He is an upcoming leader in his community, working for Wilurarra Creative, a multidisciplinary recording studio and arts workshop for aboriginal youth. Brett carves punu and also writes music.

"I’ve been cutting and carving wood now for a very long time and over the years I have gotten better at what I love doing.  It is a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation in my family to this very point where we are right now. I have always listened, looked and learned from the old people. That's really important to have respect for them. I love making punu.  The pattern and texture in the wood is just what I love about Mulga trees (Acacia Aneura).  Doing the final touch in the boomerang or shield is so nice I really love it. Family and friends call me B.J.”   - Brett Jennings

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Lydon Stevens is originally from Tjuntjuntjara, a small community in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia. Now living with his wife in Ernabella, he began carving with Maruku in 2015. Lydon’s skills have been passed on through the Tjukurpa, the Law and way of life governing his country.

Selina Kulitja is minyma Anangu, an Aboriginal woman from the Central Desert area of Australia. Her mother, senor artist, Nyinku Kulitja, taught her and Selina began carving in her own right in the early 1990s. She began painting with Maruku in 2007and was elected chair person in 2018, Selina is a strong ambassador for Maruku, bringing her people’s art and culture to the wider world through workshops and exhibitions. She is also a Health Worker in her local community clinic and a land management advisor with the Katiti-Petermann Indigenous Protected Area. She is an active spokesperson as both a local and regional council representative.

Trisha Singer is minyma Anangu, an Aboriginal woman from the APY Lands of northern South Australia. Instructed in traditional carving by her grandmothers, aunts and mothers, she brings her own flair and attention to detail to her work. She is also an artist and director with Iwantja Arts of Indulkana.

Cynthia Burke was born in Alice Springs and grew up in the central desert of Western Australia. She has been a youth and media worker for many years and hosts a weekly radio programme for Radio NGm. Cynthia is an internationally exhibited painter with Warakurna Artists and also works with Tjanpi Desert Weavers. She is one of Maruku’s foremost up and coming wood carvers, and in 2014 became one of its youngest directors. She carries on the traditions of the Tjukurpa, the Law and way of life governing her country.

Errol Evans is originally from Djabugay and Western Yalanji country in far north Queensland. He now lives in Railway Bore near Indulkana on the APY Lands of northern South Australia with his Yankunytjatjara wife Tanya Singer. They form a strong carving team bringing traditions from the wet tropics and the desert together.

Brenda James was born and raised in the Pitjantjatjara community of Kaltukatjara (Docker River), west of Uluru in the far south west of the Northern Territory. She began carving and painting as a teenager and has received dedicated instruction from her parents, the late Yvonne James and Jim Nyukuti, both experienced traditional carvers and founding executive members of the Maruku organisation.

Justine Anderson is Anangu, an Aboriginal person from the Central Desert area of Australia. She grew up in Finke, a community in the Northern Territory, south of Alice Spring where she works in the health clinic. She began selling her carvings through Maruku Arts in 2006 and is one of the few artists to use paint in her designs.  Her skills have been passed on by her mothers and other family members through the Tjukurpa, the Law and way of life governing her country.

Esmerelda Kulitja is the daughter of well known artist Rene Kulitja and granddaughter of renowned wood carvers Topsy Tjulyata and Walter Pukutiwara. As a school student with Nyangatjatjara Aboriginal College she painted with Walkatjara Art and did her first painting for Maruku in February, 2007. Esmerelda grew up in the Mutitjulu Community in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park where her family was strongly involved in traditional land management, tourism and the arts. More recently she has been living in her father’s country at Docker River.