"I do painting to look back on the old days when we went hunting. My Mum took us out looking for bush medicine and yams and goanna. I learned about painting by looking at the flowers and trees in the swap area around Ampilatwatja where the bush flowers bloom in lots of colours. It's good for my kids to look at my paintings and learn about our ways."

Ada Pula Beasley is an Epenarra artist known for her vibrant depictions of Alyawarr Country. Ada’s work is notable for her use of a dabbing technique, employed to create many brief, hazy strokes, sometimes layered with heavy dots, that coalesce to form trees, shrubs and flowers. Ada's pallet is influenced by flowers local to Alyawarr Country which sits at the foothills of Ilytwelepenty (the Davenport Ranges). Notable for her bold use of colour, in particular greens and yellows, Ada's paintings often capture the desert in the springtime, when rain comes, casting the local flora vivid green and blanketing the red dirt in abundant wildflowers.

Ada’s landscapes sit at a crossroads between representational and abstract. Her rhythmic mark making refers to light and colour, a response to environmental changes observed over the course of the day or the year. Ada’s focus on light and colour over form recall an Impressionistic style while her use of repetitive layers of heavy dabbing draws influence from the greats of the nearby Utopia homelands.  

Ada began her career with the Artists of Ampilatwatja before she moved to the nearby community of Epenarra, also known as Wutunugurra, here she continues to paint with the Epenarra Artists and remains an important artist in the Barkly region.

Rita Kemarr Beasley is an Alyawarr artist known for her energetic and expressive style. Rita creates loose and evocative depictions of Country using large blocks of colour in a palette inspired by the Davenport Ranges where her home of Wutunugurra (Epenarra) is located. She builds layers and layers of paint when she works, dotting laboriously over a section of canvas only to paint over it again in a new colour. While sometimes her paintings are finished with her first few strokes, more often Rita's intuitive process means her paintings can go through many evolutions, forming and re-forming, until the work reaches a state of completion she is satisfied with. Watching her paint, a viewer will see many apparently promising paintings appear and then be covered over, the final product often being entirely different from where she first began. The topography of thick marks and ridges of paint on the finished canvas is the only remaining evidence of the hidden paintings underneath.

Rita's work frequently depicts sturdy trees whose thick white trunks stand starkly against her richly coloured backgrounds. These bright eucalypts flourish in the landscape surrounding Wutunugurra and feature in varied forms in the works of many of the Epenarra artists.

Rita began painting infrequently in the early 2000s, when outreach programs first brought art workshops to Wutunugurra community. Rita has had a vision impairment in one eye since birth, and at first painted under the guidance of her sisters Jessie and Topsy Beasley. Her natural fluency with materials and colours has continued to develop into a confident and entirely individual approach to painting.

Rita was born in the bush around Wutunugurra circa 1951, and has lived in the small Alyawarr community her entire life. She never married or had children, but she is surrounded by family of all ages. Spending time with family, sitting and talking and sharing stories, and attending church are her favourite ways to spend her time outside of painting at the art centre.

Maria Napanangka Dickenson is not only an artist at Arlpwe Arts and Cultural Centre, she is also an employee. Maria was born in Warrabri (Ali Curung) in 1977. Maria grew up and went to school in Ali Curung and then went on to Yirarra College in Alice Springs when she was 15 years. Maria started to paint in 2007 and paints landscapes of her mother’s country and her grandmother’s country. (Hatches Creek). Maria is a landscape artist whose paintings are inspired by visits to her mother’s country. She also paints her husbands dreaming.

"We grew up on bush food, kanga berry, bush potato, I paint bush tuckers because I like to go out and collect them, sit out with the crowbar and dig the potato. And eat them, it's a nice taste."

Born to a Warlipiri father and Warlmanpa mother, Aileen Long grew up in Willowra Community and moved to Tennant Creek in her youth. Aileen started painting as a young woman, but stopped for many years before picking up the brush again with Barkly Regional Arts' Tartukula Artists. Aleen's paintings use bright textured colours to show abstract depictions of bush tucker, in particular, wanakiji (bush tomato), recalling fond memories of hunting for bush tuckers with family. Bush tomatoes grow in abundance in the Barkly region and are particularly common after big rain.  

Barbara Kngwarrey Long is a senior custodian for her Ancestor the Mountain Devil Lizard or Thorny Devil Lizard of the Utopia region.  

The dreaming tells of the old woman Mountain Devil Lizard - the ancestral being who takes the form of a small, spike-covered lizard- who travelled the vast regions of the Atnangker country defining the landscape and identifying the sacred sites.

The patterns in her paintings reflect the spots on the skin of the Mountain Devil Lizard (Arnkerrth)— the ancestral being who takes the form of a small, spike-covered lizard—as well as the seeds and ants it eats and the track marks it makes as it makes its journey across the desert. Her paintings demonstrate her connection between her past and the present and reminds us that the Mountain Devil Lizard is still roaming the country and defining the landscape.

Daylene grew up and attended school at Ali Curung. Daylene paints landscapes and hunting areas of her mother’s and father’s country.

Elizabeth began painting for Mbantua Gallery in 2006. Her works represent the Dreamtime story of Ahakeye (bush plum) which is found in the desert. Elizabeth's father is Motorbike Paddy who also paints the Ahakeye. Not speaking much English, Elizabeth was encouraged to take up painting by her female family members including her mother, renowned artist Kathleen Ngale. Elizabeth resides in the Utopia Region and still participates in traditional ways of life and ceremonies to promote the Dreamtime of bush plum.

Sonya Murphy Napaljarri was born in Alice Springs in 1982. She first grew up in Mungkarta 90km south west from Tennant Creek. From her father side, she belongs to the Warumungu language group, and from her mother's side, the Warlpiri and Kaytetye language groups. Sonya started to learn painting when she was 12 years old, watching her grandmother and aunties paint and replicating their designs.

In the Arlpwe Art and Culture Centre painting studio where Sonya works as a studio assistant, her ability to manipulate and create unique colours is heavily relied upon. In many of Sonya’s works, she uses her brush to blend white with orange, yellow and red oxide. Her authoritative repetition and feel for rhythm foster hypnotic landscapes.

Sonya is an emerging leader in the community, being heavily involved in cultural activities as well as residing on the boards of Arlpwe Art and Culture Centre and Desart.

Jessie Peterson was born at Hatches Creek in the Davenport Ranges circa 1932, and is now one of the most senior painters living in Wutunugurra. She has been painting with the Epenarra artist collective for decades and has developed an intuitive and confident painting style which she uses to depict a wide range of subjects. The artist's playful and experimental approach leads to strong compositions and a sense of exploration within every new work she produces. Traditional Aboriginal painting symbols and body decoration motifs will often appear on the same canvas as figurative representations of plant and animal life. Jessie records her memories of the 'old days' alongside depictions of contemporary life, her approach to painting therefore embraces the concept of everywhen, encompassing the past, present and future within a single moment.

Martha Poulson Nakamarra was born at Yuendumu in 1949 before permanently moving to Ali Curung (then known as Warrabri). Reflected in Martha’s paintings is her profound love of the bush landscape and hunting animals and the many bush foods in the Ali Curung and Wycliffe Well region. Martha began painting in 2003 at the Ali Curung Old Women’s Centre, before becoming a founding member of Arlpwe Art and Culture Centre in 2008.

After initially painting Jukurrpa (dreamtime stories), Martha’s work now focuses on her memories of hunting and collecting bush tucker with the old people of Yuendumu. Yuparli (bush banana), ngayaki (bush tomato), and other plants and features of the landscape are brought to life with a looseness of touch and an emphasis on bright colour. Martha creates a whimsical space to play with patterns and altered perspectives, producing a surreal and fertile world. At times, her paintings appear as if they could be the work of multiple artists.

Jedda Purvis Kngwarreye was born at Boundary Bore; an area in Utopia, a community located 240 kilometres north east of Alice Springs known for its quality art.  She is the daughter of accomplished Utopian artist Greeny Purvis Petyarre (who sadly passed away in May 2010) and Kathleen Kemarre.

Jedda’s artistic career began in the late 1980’s when as a young woman she participated in the famous “Utopia: A Picture Story”, which was a community project where silk batiks were introduced to the women of Utopia. The project was such a success that the full collection of 88 silk batiks was acquired by the Robert Holmes a Court Collection which they toured the exhibition through Eire and Scotland.

In many of her paintings, Jedda depicts the Dreaming “Kame”, which was handed down to her from her father’s side of the family. It is one of Utopia’s most famous Dreamtime stories, which was shared with Emily Kame Kngwarreye, the most well known and collectable Aboriginal artist of all time. “Kame” or Yam is an important plant which grows in the Utopia region - it is an important food source as well as a traditional healing plant.

Women celebrate the pencil yam through ceremonies to ensure perpetual germination for future seasons. Jedda depicts the root system of the yam plant in her paintings and carefully chooses her colours to create her own distinct style.

Jedda is an emerging artist from Utopia with a strong following.

I am originally from Barrow Creek and I’m married to Ricky Holmes a traditional owner of Ampilatwatja. I began painting at the Artists of Ampilatwatja in 2010.  When I was younger I would often stay with an Aunty in Alice Springs who was a well established artist there and as a teenager I would help her to paint her paintings. I also has a couple of Aunties in Utopia who were part of the Utopian Batik movement and I would watch them do batik as a child. 

I draw a lot of inspiration from my homeland and my childhood memories of Barrow Creek and the country surrounding there. My paintings are often  reminiscing of hunting and camping trips, climbing the hills to get brilliant views and walking my land with my family. I like to paint my homeland, at Barrow Creek, because it as a way of connecting to and remembering my home. 

Kathleen’s dot work is exquisitely fine and she uses this technique to make patterns within the landscapes of her paintings demonstrating her peaceful, patient disposition and a deep love and connection to her country. The work produced by Kathleen is recognisably distinct, due to the application of her fine patterned dots and the often bright and lively figurative depiction of the landscape.

Kathleen tells of how she is inspired by landscapes, the ways the sky changes and how the light changes the colours of the land and the rocks. 

A veritable source of life, the land has provided and sustained Kayetetye people for generations, as every plant and animal has avital role to play within the ecological system; this profound understanding is interpreted in all Kathleen’s paintings.

Courtesy of Artists of Ampilatwatja

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The predominant theme in my paintings is ‘strong bush medicine’, I have a deep connection to my country Irrultja . My work pays respect to the significance and use of traditional bush medicine which is still used daily. I paint the flowers to keep the knowledge alive.

Courtesy of Artists of Ampilatwatja

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Agnes Pula Rubuntja is an Alyawarr artist from Ampilatwatja. Agnes began her creative career painting with the Artists of Ampilatwatja with her mother and aunts before she moved to Canteen Creek and begun painting with the Artists of the Barkly. Agnes' works feature recurring images of bush medicine and bush tucker, reflecting her deep cultural knowledge and understanding of Country. Agnes comes from a prolific family of painters, including Epenarra artist Jimmy Rubuntja.

Courtesy of Barkly Regional Art