News
Kindy Kemarre Ross
Irrultja is My Country
Acrylic on linen
107 x 107 cm
SARAH BIRTLES Art + Advice is pleased to introduce the work of the Artists of Ampilatwatja to Hong Kong audiences for the first time, presented at the Affordable Art Fair from 14–17 May. This marks an exciting moment for the artists and for international collectors, bringing a distinctive and deeply rooted visual language from Alyawarr Country to a global stage.
Q: Can you tell us a little about how the Artists of Ampilatwatja art centre began, and what it means to the community today?
Twenty five years ago, heralding a new and fresh direction in Aboriginal painting, 20 artists from Ampilatwatja held their first sell-out exhibition. Ampilatwatja (pronounced um-blood a-watch) sits on Alyawarr land, stretching north east of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), it is here that the artists map out the lands to reveal the contents of their country.
By 2003 the art centre was incorporated and the community were producing artwork reflecting life experience and bringing culture alive.
The Artists of Ampilatwatja have painted together for 25 years. ‘Our painting has no borders, just one country. Ampilatwatja is our place, Ampilatwatja is our country’. Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney
Q: Describe the art centre and community/town for us.
Our art centre is a place where women across all generations can gather and pass on knowledge, share stories and practice and develop our art, while men carve and make wooden artefacts. Our art centre helps keep our culture strong.
Q: The artwork is very distinctive to other art centres. Tell us about the colours, techniques, or ideas that make the paintings recognisable?
The work produced by our artists is unique and recognisably distinct from other Aboriginal artistic communities. The paintings pay homage to the significance and use of traditional bush medicine, allowing an insight into our community. We depict the traditional knowledge of dreaming and country through the translation of waterholes and soaks, bush medicines, mountains and sand hills.
Underneath the surface of the paintings there is an underlying sense that there is more to these landscapes than meets the eye. In keeping with the religious laws, the artists reveal only a small amount of knowledge to the uninitiated. The esoteric information that is held sacred to our artists and people is concealed from the public and layered underneath the common visual narrative, masked by the delicate layered dots of the painting.
Nancy Pitjara Frank
Bush Flowers (Artna Alpeyt)
Acrylic on linen, 91 x 61 cm
Q: We often hear the word ‘Arreth’ in relation to your work. Could you share what it means.
We predominantly paint Arreth (strong bush medicine), demonstrating our deep connection to country. A veritable source of life, the land has provided and sustained Alyawarr people for generations, as every plant and animal has a vital role to play within the ecological system.
Q: What does the process of painting look like for the artists - from the first idea through to completed work.
'When I paint I think about good memories, being a young girl and walking through the land. My mother made paint from two stones and showed us ceremony painting and how to sing and dance for ceremonies. I still sing and dance and collect the bush medicines, I like to make tea from the small purple flowers of Arreth (hill fuchsia)’. Nancy Pitjara Frank
"We hope that visitors will get to experience our stories, our land our culture and take home a piece of the desert with them."
Our warmest thanks to the Artists of Ampilatwatja for allowing us to share their artwork and unique understanding of Country with a new audience in Hong Kong.
