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.

Bob Gibson Tjungurrayi was born at Papunya in 1974, before moving with his family to the small community of Tjukurla during the outstation movement of the 1980s. This was a time when many Ngaanyatjarra people moved from government outposts near to Alice Springs back into the Western Desert to be closer to their ancestral homelands. Bob's mother, Mary Gibson, is also a leading Tjarlirli artist whose Country is at Kulkurta, deep in the Western Desert, while his father’s country was near Patjarr on the edge of the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve.

Bob began painting with Tjarlirli Art in 2007, and quickly found a unique rhythm and approach to mark-making; his style is characterised by bold colours and an inimitable freedom of movement, expressing ancient stories with contemporary flair. Bob is a vibrant character who is well loved within his community and provides support to many family members. He is a keen Sydney Swans supporter and loves listening to all music, especially the local bush bands.

Looking at a Bob Gibson painting feels a little like spending time with the artist himself. Bob’s bold, playful presence in the studio is contagious; each canvas brings wild shapes and expressive lines met with decisive mark-making and confident realisation of country. His highly unique representations of Tjukurrpa (Dreaming stories) are an intersection of traditional storytelling and a spirited contemporary artistic practice. Bob's work is significant for the way it speaks to the complex layers and tensions between cultural, historical and modern influences, and challenges characterisations of what 'real' Aboriginal art looks like.

Courtesy of Tjarlirli and Kaltukatjara Art

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Candy Nelson Nakamarra was born in Yuendumu in 1964, daughter to renowned Papunya Tula artist Johnny Warangkula, who taught his children how to paint whilst passing down family stories. They all paint the Kalipinypa Water Dreaming story, of the rain and hail making ceremony, which Candy continues to explore and reinvent.

Candy has a distinct, evolving style, employing bold contrasting colours and layering of drips, drawing and outlining to create sophisticated, sought after contemporary works, which she says “look as if they are breathing, with the drawing elements popping out of the canvas’”. Candy represents tali (sandhills) and running water in her backgrounds, and uses dotting to represent hail storms and rain. Through drawing shapes and motifs, she represents the waterholes, running water, bush tucker, water birds and flowers present after a big storm and the wanampi (water snake) which lives under the waterhole.

Winner of the Interrelate Acquisitive Prize as part of the Wollotuka Acquisitive Art Prize (2012), her work is held in the Macquarie Bank Collection, Parliament House Canberra Collection and the Hassall Collection.

Courtesy of Papuna Tjupi

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"My mum's father came from Kirriwirri in the North. I can paint that way too. I like painting, it's a good way to learn from old people, keep the stories going. Yunkurra (Billy Atkins), my nyamu (grandfather), he's guiding me about what I can paint and share. My closest family is the Taylor mob; uncle Muuki, Wokka, and Ngalangka (Nola). They help me too." - Cyril Whyoulter

Cyril's mother's and Father's country is Jartuti. He is the grandson of senior Martumili Artists Bugai Whyoulter and Pinyirr (dec.). Cyril grew up in Parnngurr and Punmu communities. He now lives with his wife and children between Perth and Newman.

Cyril first developed an interest in art making when he began colouring in pencil with his grandfather Larry Patterson. An avid experimentalist and prolific painter, he has since mastered many painting techniques and developed his own signature style in which the influence of his grandmother Bugai is evident. Cyril is respected as a learned cultural leader, and is a strong proponent of the importance of intergenerational knowledge transfer.

Deborah Wurrkidj was born in 1971 at Maningrida in north-central Arnhem Land. Her language is Kuninjku and her moiety is Duwa. Deborah is well known for her fibre weaving, bark painting, woodcarving and printmaking.

Deborah is a versatile artist who has readily adapted to new art forms while retaining strong clan traditions. Her work is tactile and intricate and illustrates the artistic innovation that has occurred in Maningrida over the last 30 years.

Alongside her highly regarded fine art practice Deborah, with her mother, Helen Lanyinwanga, and sister Jennifer Wurrkidj has been working at Bábbarra Designs since 1991. She is a leading textile artist and an integral member of Bábbarra Women’s Centre.

Deborah has exhibited nationally including the 19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2020 and is represented in a number of state and private collections. In 2019 she was one of five artists who travelled with the Bàbbarra Women’s Centre to Paris, France for the opening of Jarracharra: Dry Season Wind. In 2023 she travelled to India as the internationally touring Jarracharra exhibition was opening. During this trip Deborah met with local artisans and experimented with translating her designs into traditional Indian woodblock printing.

Courtesy of Maningrida Arts & Culture

"I'm Desmond Taylor. I'm a Purungu man. My Country is Karlamilyi. Who taught me how to paint? My father taught me, my mother. The story I paint is about Karlamilyi, the Country where my ancestors lived and walked and gathered food.

My favourite thing to do outside of painting is go looking for bush tucker, bush medicine, going hunting, collecting fire wood, getting back in touch with the Country. I feel pukurlpa (happy), I feel happy when I paint. It brings happiness, connection, family. It keeps the stories alive to have that connection to ngurra (home Country, camp) Country." - Desmond Taylor

Desmond was born in 1964 close to the bed of the Oakover River. Two years later his family moved into Jigalong - they were amongst the last Martu to live entirely in the desert without access to rations. Desmond went to school in Nullagine and Perth, and now works as a professional translator and educator as well as an artist. Desmond primarily paints his family's Country around Karlamilyi (Rudall River) and the creation stories for that Country, especially the Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora) Dreaming.

Djirrirra (also known as Yukuwa) first began painting while aiding her father, Yanggarriny Wunuŋmurra (1932-2003), towards his Telstra Award winning painting of 1997 and up until his death in 2003. Also assisting her brother Nawurapu Wunuŋmurra during this time.

She now primarily paints her own works. Attracting interest in the art world with her precise hand and geometric style. Yukuwa (yam) has become a distinct theme in her practice. This motif formed when she had been questioned about her right to paint Buyku, the fishtrap imagery of her own clan and homeland by a family member. Rather than disagreeing she responded by painting imagery which has defined in a sense, her own personal identity.

Her first major exhibition in 2006 at Raft Artspace in Darwin also coincided with her first visit outside of Arnhem Land. She was selected in 2007 for Cross Currents, a major art survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Her notoriety was secured when she was awarded Winner of the TOGA Northern Territory Contemporary Art Award in 2008. This then led to her first solo show at Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne in 2009.

Following on from her father and brother in 2012 as a Telstra winner with Best Bark at the 29th NATSIAA with her distinctive Yukuwa theme. She has exhibited in the US and China and in Australia previously with Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne and Short street in Broome. Living within the remote homeland of Gangan since she was born (before Western housing was erected) and has three children. Her work has been exhibited across Australia and internationally in Paris, London, Milan, Freiburg, Aspen, Idaho, Santa Fe, Seattle, Virginia, Shanghai and Singapore.

Dulcie Sharpe was born at Kwale Kwale (Jay Creek) but spent many years growing up at Hamilton Downs Station. Her mother was from Papunya and she is a Luritja speaker. Dulcie went to school at Kwale Kwale and says her happiest memories are playing every day after school in the bush and swimming when there was water. It was Dulcie’s grandmother, Old Laddie, who taught her everything about culture: how to find honey ants, bush tucker, dancing, language.  

Dulcie has been coming to the Yarrenyty Arltere Learning Centre since 2000 when she helped set it up as a place for her community to get well again from the chronic social issues it was facing. Dulcie wanted to create a safe place for the kids and adults to find new pathways into the future by holding on strongly to culture and learning together.  

Dulcie says she loves sewing. She sews after work on the weekend and even in hospital. She is a respected elder of the community and a positive role model for other artists.

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Rena Garmundawuy my sister has been teaching me how to work with pandanus and do fibre art

Born on her homelands of Walker River in 1960, Joy is a quietly-spoken artist who taught herself how to weave at the age of 20. She has two children and one grandson. She spends her time with family in Numbulwar community and regularly teaches weaving at the local school.

Julie Nangala Robertson is one of five daughters born in Yuendumu in 1973 to well-known Telstra Award winning artist, Dorothy Napangardi (Dec 2013). Since the late 1990’s, while often in the company of her talented mother, Julie has pursued and developed a creative visual language of her own, one which consists of a fascinating blend of stylised experimentation and ancient narrative.

Usually an aerial perspective along with a more recently and established distinctive monochromatic pallette, Julie’s current paintings (which depict the topographical features of her traditional country at the site of Pirlinyanu) have become works of extraordinary optical brilliance as she alternates the size of dots throughout her work as well as building up specific shapes or reference points often repeated with overdotting.

Julie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2007. She paints her mother’s Jukurrpa stories, stories that have been passed down to her by her mother and all the mothers before them for millennia. Her work has been included in numerous collections and exhibitions of Aboriginal Art in both Australia and overseas.  

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Julieanne Ngwarraye was born in 1975 to Lilly Kemarra Morton who is a senior artist of Ampilatwatja, whowas part of the Utopian Batik movement in the 1980’s and is a respected elder of the community.

Her Grandfather’s country is Antarrengeny. Her Grandmother’s mother’s country is Aherrenge.

Julieanne is a well known artist of the community, as is her sister Jessie Ngwarraye Ross, and Aunty Daisy Kemarre Moss.

She has two beautiful daughters and has painted with the women of her family since she can remember.

Courtesy of Artists of Ampilatwatja

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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.

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 draws 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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Lavinia Ketchell is one of Erub Arts exciting contemporary artist from Darnley Island in the Torres Strait.

From her humble beginnings crafting ghost net jewellery, Lavinia has emerged as a beacon of innovation, sharing insights into the detrimental impact of ghost nets. Lavinia's artistry not only captivates audiences worldwide but also serves as a poignant reminder of our responsibility to protect marine ecosystems. With each exhibition, she continues to inspire change, solidifying her status as an important artist dedicated to both creativity and conservation.

My name is Margaret Marrarrawuy Wanambi. I was born on the 1st of January 1937 I live in Gapuwiyak in East Arnhen Land.

Burrayburray Guyamirrilil is my mother, Djukamawuy Guyula is my father. My sisters, Helen Djaypila, and Wininingu and Dorothy are all well known fibre artists. Our mother was our teacher.

Milminyina was born in 1960 at Wirrwawuy, near Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, at the very northeastern tip of the Northern Territory. She is the daughter of Gumatj woman Rrirraliny Yunupiŋu (a daughter of famous arist and political figure Mungurrawuy Yunupiŋu), and Gunguyuma Dhamarrandji, who was brought up by the legendary Djapu leader Woŋgu Munuŋgurr. Her märi, or mother’s mother’s clan, is Rirratjiŋu, the landowners of Yirrkala, who share many sacred designs with the Djambarrpuyŋu of this area. The Djambarrpuyŋu clan which she belongs to are mainly based in the Westerly end of the Yolŋu nation near a major sacred site at Buckingham Bay. This arm of the clan use the surname Guyula. A small cluster of the clan is based around a group of sacred sites at Yirrkala. These people are known by the surname Dhammarrandji. In the ancestral everywhen the spirit people of this place and the offshore islands in the form of terns conducted ceremony around the Merri or sacred string which was cut. The short string was given to the Rirratjiŋu and the longer to the Djambarrpuyŋu. Hence the Rirratjiŋu are sedentary here and the Djambarrpuyŋu range far to the West.

The main theme she painted until 2022 was the crescent shapes of Rulyapa, the saltwater country estates shared by these two clans. She was taught to paint and weave by her mother, having grown up watching her work. She was educated at Dhupuma College, on her mother’s Gumatj land at Guḻkuḻa, and attended workshops at Wollongong University in printing and etching in 1996. She also painted on ceramics and assisted with painting yiḏaki while residing on Gumatj land at Gunyaŋara’ from the 1990’s, until relocating to her märi land at Yirrkala in 2003 and on to Gälaru in 2006. She had sold paintings on canvas for years but recently expanded her presence and status working on bark paintings and Larrakitj (memorial poles) at Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka. It was in this context that she began to explore the theme of the songlines associated with ceremonies connected to Dhambadiŋ (Death or Deaf Adder) on Bremer Island. She is an active and engaged member of her community who is seen as a truly positive force. She is always friendly and cheerful and has a keen intelligence. She involves herself fully in ceremony and community welfare. In 2023 she travelled to the USA twice within one month- the first trip to open the ‘Maḏayin- Eighty Years of bark painting from Yirrkala’ in Washington and the second to guide a group of school children from Gunyuŋarra to a robot competition which they did very well in.

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“I been born [around] Karanyal and Martilirri (Canning Stock Route Well 22) in the parna (ground), only claypan. My jamu (grandfather) [was also] Jakayu [Biljabu's] father, my father's daddy. My mummy born long way, near to Wikirri (Midway Well) area. My father born Pitu (Separation Well). I’m biggest one [I was the eldest of five siblings]; me, Neil, Ivy, Gladys, then Caroline. My sister Gladys been born Wantili, Ivy born Georgia Bore (Pitarny), Caroline been born in Jigalong [Mission]. We walked around together [as we were] growing up.”

[As a child, Ngamaru walked around with her family, living a pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) lifestyle. In 1963 Ngamaru saw a whitefella for the first time near Wiirnukurrujunu rockhole; surveyor Len Beadell grading a road across the desert as part of a military weapons testing program. Shortly after this meeting Ngamaru, along with the other 28 Martu she had been travelling with, was tracked and pursued up by the Native Welfare Department. The group was eventually persuaded to move to Jigalong mission to join their relatives that had already moved in from the desert.]

“They been chase us, long way - me, Ivy, and Kuru (Gladys) ran away with Mitchell and Teddy Biljabu. Kumpaya, Bugai and my mother ran away quick too. Landrover he been pick us up for Parngurr, all the lot, [driving on the] track for Jigalong. Family all coming in. I been come for first time [it was my first time in a vehicle]. I was naked one, put a blanket for kurnta (shame). I been living there in Jigalong with my mummy and family. I been working in the dining hall, making bread for kid. I been meet my nyupa (spouse), Mr Booth, and had a son, Ned Booth.” - Ngamaru Bidu

Ngamaru was born at Martilirri (Well 22 on the Canning Stock Route), the eldest of four siblings. Her mother came from the area around Wikirri and her father from Pitu. As a child Ngamaru lived a pujiman lifestyle, and walked around with her family, moving from water source to water source dependent on the seasonal rain cycles. They often travelled with their extended relatives, Bugai Whyoulter and Jakayu Biljabu’s families.

When Ngamaru was a teenager, her family and their travelling companions were tracked by Native Patrol Officers and staff from the Jigalong Mission. The group was persuaded to move to Jigalong Mission, where they rejoined the many family members that had already moved in from the desert. At the mission, Ngamaru’s sister and some of the Biljabu family were sent to school, but Ngamaru went to work making bread.

From Jigalong Ngamaru moved to Strelley Community, where she met her husband, Joshua Booth. Together with their children they later moved to Warralong and then Punmu Aboriginal Communities before settling in Parnngurr Aboriginal community (Cotton Creek), where Ngamaru continues to live today.

Ngamaru has painted with Martumili since its inception in 2006. She has frequently painted with senior artists and relatives Mitutu Mabel Wakarta (dec.) and Kumpaya Girgaba. Ngamaru is known for the beautifully complex compositional structures and intricate patterning in her work, through which she very often explores the practice of fire burning in her Country and its related Martu cyclical seasonal changes. Ngamaru’s work has been exhibited in galleries internationally and throughout Australia, and acquired by the National Museum of Australia. She was selected in 2019 for the prestigious John Stringer Art Prize exhibition.

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"I was born in Liveringa Station in the Kimberley. You come to the Myroodah River crossing, then you’re there. I grew up there and went to school at Camballin, then I went to Derby High School and then to boarding school at Sir James Mitchell in Mount Lawley. I came back to Camballin to finish my school there. I been coming up and back [ever since], Kimberley to Port Hedland. I like coming here to art; keeping busy, better than sitting at home. Painting and relaxing, that’s why I like coming here.. Birds are the first things we see, you know, when we wake up. See and hear. Birds are like roosters to us, they wake us up in the mornings. And when the sun goes down they go to sleep and we go to sleep. You know us old people start and finish the day with the birds. That’s everyday life between birds and humans, you know. That’s what I think about anyway.”

Nyangulya Katie Nalgood has a strong affinity with birds, the diverse feathered creatures filling her personal history as well as cultural life. They are as much a part of her Country as she is, and their songs are the sound memories of her home. Nyangulya started out painting only the birds native to her Country in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, and collaborated with family members to help her sketch out their forms. Her technical skill has since become more refined, and she now works independently. Her imagination has also expanded, and she looks to birds from across Western Australia, finding inspiration in their different colours, forms, and personalities.

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My name is Crystal Gardiner and I was born 1988 in Derby. My father is William Gardiner and he’s from around Marble Bar and my mother [Nyagulya] Katie [Nalgood] is from around Looma in the Kimberley. When I was young I spent a lot of time just going up and down between Looma and [Port] Hedland, travelling round and camping out. I like the bush life. I like fishing and listening to family telling stories around the campfire, drawing on the ground. Sometimes it's Dreamtime stories and sometimes personal ones. I started doing animation and painting when I saw my Dad doing his paintings.

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“My father taught me everything about carving, how to use carving tools, what wood to use and what colours. He was the late great Murrunungumirri (Paddy Freddy)” – Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri

Patrick began painting with Jilamara Arts and Craft when he left school at 17. He has been part of the organisation as it has developed into a prominent arts organisation since the late 1980s. He said he always wanted to be an artist, learning from his father Paddy Freddy Puruntatameri, a highly respected and renowned carver.

Paddy taught young Patrick “to do this and to do that”. He drew for him, taught him how to use the chisel and mallet properly as well as showing him the right wood to use for carving and to make spears. Paddy showed him the right colours for painting, how to make red and where to get it.

Patrick is a loving father of five children and a well-respected senior artist at Jilamara – he is well known for skillfull carvings of his totem the jurrukukuni (owl). He manages the Jilmara carving workshop, which is named after his father and is a mentor for younger artists learning traditional Tiwi carving and jilamara (body paint design)

His works are held in many major collections Australia wide including the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne) and the Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane). He has had great success throughout his long career including major group and solo exhibitions. Most recently Patrick has been commissioned to make tutini poles for Paralika tutini Jilamara (2019) – a major group exhibition of Tiwi tutini at the Art Gallery of South Australia and NIRIN: the 22^nd Biennale of Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (2020).

Courtesy of Jilamara Arts and Crafts

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Pius Tipungwuti has a long history working as an artist at Jilamara Arts and Crafts. He remains a strong leader in governance being an early influence in the development of the art centre and has held the positions of President, Public Officer and Treasurer. His tutini (pukumani poles) can be found around the world from the Muluwurri Museum in Milikapiti, to the Darwin Airport, Singapore’s Botanical Gardens and as far away as Amsterdam where he travelled to complete a commission in the late 2000s. Pius managed Milikapiti’s men’s centre for some years, combining his creative skills with directional and motivational work for young men. He has also held the chair of the Milikapiti Regional Council on multiple occasions. His skills as a carver are highly regarded and his work is included in major collections around the world.

Pius continues a prominent family legacy of significant Tiwi artists. His mother Mary Magdalene Tipungwuti was a senior Jilamara artist, and his younger brother John Martin Tipungwuti is also a respected carver. John Martin and Pius are the nephews of the highly acclaimed Tiwi artist Declan Apuatimi, their father Dermot Tipungwuti’s half-brother.

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“ 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

Living and working on country in Cairns(Yirrganydji/Djabugay) and Yarrabah (Gunggandji) in Far North Queensland,Simone Arnol and Bernard Singleton collaborate as artists and together in life.

Simone Arnol (Gunggandji Peoples)is a community leader who conveys powerful narratives of family and Country through many differentmediums including photography, painting, fashion and design. Bernard Lee Singleton (Umpila, Djabugay/Yirrgay) is a celebrated curator, educator and performer but his grounding practice is in continuing ancestral skills in crafting traditional tools, weapons and objects.

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Clifford Thompson was brought up in Ali Curang. His mother’s country is Karlu Karlu (Devil’s Marbles) and his father’s country is Jarrah Jarrah, he belongs to the Kaytetye language group. Thompson has been a member of The Tennant Creek Brio since 2016 and has exhibited in Alice Springs and Darwin as well as participating in the 2020 Sydney Biennale. His preferred medium is acrylic on board, upon which he experiments with mesmerising spatial patterning – his bold and rhythmic line work depicts abstracted aspects of life in Tennant and Country, mainly from his mother’s country. In 2020, Thompson was introduced to ceramics and was mentored by potter Su Brown. He took a keen interest in hand building mugs, jugs and large platters and applying the unique style of painting he is known for through the Brio onto the pots he created. Thompson enjoys both painting and ceramic building primarily for its meditative qualities, through both mediums, he is able to connect with country and remember his ancestors.

My name is Tony Cameron. I live in Gapuwiyak Community with my wife and children. I am a fibre sculpture artist and like to make birds, crocodiles, buffalo and lizards, these are woven from pandanus fibre and filled with paperbark, materials we collect from our local area. I work together with my wife Penny to make these animals.

Wally Brooks is a young carver and artist at Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association. He is mentored by senior carver Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri and spends most of his days working in the open air Murrunungumirri carving workshop. He uses locally sourced ironwood and earth pigments to make tokwampini (birds), figurative works which represent the Tiwi creation story, tutuni poles and ceremonial spears.

After finishing High School at Tiwi College here on Melville Island, Wally lived for a while at Pirlangimpi (Garden Point), but then moved to Milikapiti with his partner to bring up their young family. He started working at Jilamara in 2017.

Wally is also a staff member at the organization, collecting ironwood and ochres for the studios and he also heads up the bark collecting team during wet season – harvesting and seasoning purrungupari (flat barks) and tunga (bark baskets) for artists to paint throughout the year. Wally is also a keen dancer contributes to many of the funded culture projects here at the art centre, often helping senior artists teach culture and share skills with the local primary and high school students through the Culture Class program. He has sat on the Executive Committee of the organisation and is a strong voice for the art centre’s young membership.

In 2019, he was a significant part of Paralika Tutini Jilamara, a major install of Tiwi tutini poles at the Art Gallery of South Australia for Tarnanthi. He travelled to Adelaide for the opening and performed Tiwi Yoyi (dance) for the projects public program. He is also part of the collaborative artist-led film project YOYI (dance) which premiered internationally at Gropius Bau in Berlin and was curated into The National 4: Australian Art Now at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

Courtesy of Jilamara Arts & Crafts

"When I was a little girl, my father and mother took me around [Yulparija Country, north of Manyjilyjarra Country]. We used to walk around when I was a little girl. We travelled with my grandmother and all the family, we travelled with my sisters and brothers. We went from place to place, stopping in one place, hunting around and stopping in another place. We visited all the yinta (permanent springs). We could even travel on the water from a soak. I used to stay at the camp, waiting by the water, while my parents and grandparents would go out to get a lot of meat and other food. The little kids would stay home and hunt for small lizards. Then we would all travel together to another place. My grandparents really loved and cared for me when I was a little girl. They took good care of me. I was growing bigger at that time. When I grew bigger, I was able to go hunting on my own. I hunted cats and goannas. My parents still went hunting for meat for us all then.

[Later] I lost my mother and my grandmother, and then my father left us and walked into a station, but my other grandmother kept looking after me. I was still travelling with my mother's mother when I got married [became second wife to the father of Yuwali Janice Nixon (dec.)] and had my daughter, Barli. When I was travelling with my husband and all the family we went south to Wirnpa and Kurturrara. We stayed around there for a time and then went northeast, on the tableland. During the wet season we would travel out from the yinta (permanent springs) across the tableland. I would travel with Yuwali's mother [the first wife of Yikartu's husband]. We would walk together, hunting as we went.

During a rainy season we were staying in one place for a while and we had a visitor from Bidyadanga. There was one missionary [Father McKelson] and two Martu men travelling with him. They asked us who we were and wrote it down on a piece of paper. Then he told us to sit down and wait for them to come back with a vehicle. From there we went into the mission."- Yikartu Bumba, as translated by Ngalangka Nola Taylor

Yikartu is a Manyjilyjarra woman born in the 1940s at Lalyipuka, north of Wirnpa and in Juwaliny Country. Her ngurra (home Country, camp) lies at the northern boundary of Martu Country, around the Percival Lakes region and further northward. She lived a pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) lifestyle until she was married and had a child, at which point the group she was travelling with first encountered a vehicle. Two Martu men and a missionary had travelled from the La Grange mission at Bidyadanga to look for people still living in the desert. They gave Yikartu and her family food and fruit, and later returned to pick up Yikartu and everyone she was travelling with. Her family group was one of the last to leave the desert.

At Bidyadanga Yikartu met up with a close uncle of hers and many other Martu, Juwaliny and Mangala people. She lived in both Bidyadanga and Jigalong for a period, during which she had three more daughters. During the 1980s Return to Country' movement Yikartu relocated to Punmu Aboriginal community to be closer to her home ngurra.

Yikartu often paints her husband's Country, close to Wirnpa, but also paints her mother's, father's and all her grandparents' Country around Lungkurangu, north of the Great Sandy Desert. Yikartu paints the jila (living water, snake) water sources running from Yulpu to Yimiri, Kupankurlu, Kurturrara and Wirnpa. Yikartu's work has been exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, and her collaborative works acquired by the National Museum of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia.

Mrs N. Giles (dec.) was born in the Gibson Desert at an important cultural site called Karku. It is this site and the associated tjukurpa that inspired her powerful and unique paintings.

She spent her youth living the traditional nomadic life of her people until her family were moved from their land to settle in missions in the 1960's.

Her knowledge of the inma (ceremonies) and tjukurrpa associated with the country here is extensive.

Nyarapayi settled in Tjukurla when the community was first established in the 1980s. She worked with purnu (wood carving) and enjoyed hunting in the bush right up until her passing.

She learned to make baskets woven from spinifex in the 1980's and has a large basket on permanent exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Her works explore her country and associated Tjukurrpa in an exquisite and unique expression of colour and movement.

Nyarapayi has gained recognition as a key artist amongst her peers in the Contemporary Indigenous Art movement. Her works are collected by collectors and institutions in Australia and internationally.

Courtesy of Tjarlirli and Kaltukatjara Art

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Keith Wikmunea was born in 1967 in Aurukun.  He was raised in Aurukun by his parents.  Keith is from the Language group Wik-Alken (mother’s side) and Wik-Mungkan (father’s side). His totems are the White Cookatoo, Goanna from his father’s side and the Galah and Frilled-neck lizard from this mother’s side. Keith’s country is Kencherang (father’s side) which is south from Aurukun. There’s a large freshwater lagoon there. During the wet season the saltwater comes up the creek during the high tides. “There is one large creek that comes into that country which splits out into my mother’s country called Ti-tree”. When the freshwater breaks out in the wet season it joins with the creek at Kencherang and connects to the saltwater.  Keith belongs to the Apalech Clan from his father’s side. His mother’s side is the Winchanam Clan. As an artist, Keith is passionate about passing on his creative and cultural knowledge to future generations. His vision is for Wik and Kugu people to keep their culture strong and alive.

Courtesy of Wik & Kugu - Aurukun Art Centre

Katjarra Butler was born in the bush c.1946 at a place called Kuun. When Katjarra’s mother was pregnant with her, a python (Kuniya) appeared in front of her. Katjarra’s mother killed the snake, and Kuniya became Katjarra’s totem animal. Katjarra lived with her family in the bush as a child and teenager. As a young woman, she married Anatjari Tjakamarra, and gave birth to her daughter Sally Tjimpuna Butler at the site of Wingarntjirri. The family lived a traditional nomadic lifestyle on their homelands northwest of Tjukurla, living off bush food and natural water sources. In the 1960s, Katjarra and her family were picked up near Kintore and taken to Papunya during a drought which forced many Western Desert peoples into contact with white settlers for the first time. For many years, Katjarra lived at Papunya, later moving to the Docker River settlement and then settling in Tjukurla after its establishment as part of the homelands movement of the 1980s. Katjarra began painting around 2001 and, along with other women in the community, helped to establish Tjarlirli Art in Tjukurla in 2006. Due to her seniority and wealth of knowledge, Katjarra is culturally responsible for many sites and stories. The works in this exhibition are demonstrative of this; Katjarra has depicted sites scattered all across her vast homelands, spanning hundreds of kilometres on the edge of the Gibson Desert. Katjarra’s work is both narratively and visually powerful, instantly recognisable through her signature gestural brushwork and powerful colour selection. She uses large round brushes to apply broad swathes of paint, rhythmically marking out geographical features - waterholes, mountains, sandhills and vast grasslands - with her entire body weight propelling the brush. Katjarra’s spirit is embodied in the power of her brushstrokes, as the broad fields of colour engulf the spectator and offer a momentary glimpse of Katjarra’s knowledge of the power and enormity of her Tjukurrpa.

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I have been taught how to work with pandanus fibre by two of my grandmothers and my mother. They are well known fibre artists. I live in Mapuru, we have many visitors coming there and I am one of the teachers. I love working with pandanus with my families.