Warakurna Artists is an Aboriginal fine arts organisation based in Warakurna, Western Australia, which aims at promoting expression of Tjukurrpa (traditional culture and law) and contemporary art forms.

Established in the mid 2000s, it services the Warakurna outstation and the Ngaanyatjarra Lands of Western Australia. It is fully owned and governed by Aboriginal people and plays an important part in the community : it not only provides economical returns for artists but also social and cultural benefits, by aiding the production and distribution of the artworks and keeping culture (and connection to the land) strong, especially among the young. The artistic media used range from painting to photography and traditional crafts.

Warakurna Artists have works in many public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), the Seattle Art museum (USA), or the Harriet and Richard England collection. Their work has been showcased in France (Maison des arts plastiques de Rhône-Alpes, Lyon) as well as in the USA (Nevada Art Museum, Reno). They have won three times the NATSIAA (Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award) as well the University of Melbourne’s Kate Challis RAKA award.

Kristabell Porter - Car Graveyard - 2015 - Photograph Edition 4 of 10 - Courtesy of Warakurna ArtistsKristabell Porter – Car Graveyard – 2015 – Photograph Edition 4 of 10 © The Artist

Kristabell Porter at work - Photo courtesy of Warakurna ArtistsArtist and photographer Kristabell Porter at work – Photo Warakurna Artists

SELECTED INSTITUTIONAL EXHIBITIONS

2014 – No Boundaries – Nevada Art Museum, USA

2011 – Way out West – Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

2010 – Warakurna Artists – Maison des arts plastiques Rhône-Alpes, Lyon, France

SELECTED AWARDS

2014 – Desart Arts Worker Photography Prize

2013 – Kate Challis RAKA Prize, the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

NATSIAA (Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award), 2013, 2009 and 2005 editions

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2015 – No Boundaries catalogue Essay.Pirriya Purlkanya, Big Wind (Tommy Mitchell) by Edwina Circuitt. Ed. Henry Skerritt. Nevada Art Gallery. USA

2012 -Ngaanyatjarra – Art of the Lands. Ed. Tim Acker and John Carty. UWA Press

2010 – Tjukurrpa Pulkatjara – The Power of the Law. South Australian Museum

 

Tommy Mitchell - “Walu”, 2012 – Acrylic on canvas - © The Artist

Tommy Mitchell – “Walu”, 2012 – Acrylic on canvas © The Artist

 

All images courtesy of Warakurna Artists.