Rhonda Unrupa Dick, “Yaalytji” 2015 – Screenprint 46.5 x 70cm, printed at Cicada Press, UNSW Art & Design. © the Artist. Courtesy of Tjala Arts and Desart Inc. Photo by S. Blackburn.
“… a rare opportunity to engage directly with experimental art and new media makers from Desert communities. ” Hetti Perkins
Contemporary desert Aboriginal art is breaking new aesthetic and political ground as never before. New media and messages, new local and international collaborations, and new artists are energetically renewing and reshaping desert art and cultural traditions. The central and western deserts are lively, contested, thriving places, where urgent cultural and political claims are taking flight on a horizon of expanded expressive possibilities. On digital screens, canvas and fabric; woven, painted and stitched; clicked, scripted and pressed; written, spoken and sung – contemporary desert art experimentation and innovation is energetically carrying old and new stories into new forms, conversations and spaces.
Exclusive to Sydney, We are in Wonder LAND invites audiences to experience bold desert photographic works, new media installations, paintings, soft sculptures, documentary films, animations, self/portraiture, fabric, fashion and fibre art works from community art centres, private and institutional collections.
Meeting together in We are in Wonder LAND, artists Nyurpaya Kaika Burton (Tjanpi Desert Weavers & Tjala Arts), Margaret Boko (Tangentyere Artists), Marlene Rubuntja (Yarrenyty Arltere) and Rhonda Unrupa Dick (Tjala Arts), along with other senior and emerging artists, articulate masterful engagements of their own local art histories and 21st century art possibilities, re-imagining the past and opening new places for future desert voices.
Artists:
Alparra School Students (Alparra/Utopia)
Shirley Adamson (Tjala Arts)
Yunkurra Billy Atkins (Martumili Artists)
Margaret Boko Nampitjinpa (Tangentyere Artists)
Nyurpaya Kaika Burton (Tjanpi Desert Weavers/Tjala Arts)
Miriam Charlie (Waralungku art centre)
Louise Daniels Napaltjarri (Tangentyere Artists)
Rhonda Unrupa Dick (Tjala Arts)
Brenda Douglas (Tjala Arts)
Blanche Ebatarinja (Yarrenyty Arltere art centre)
Lizzie (Elizabeth Marrkilyi) Ellis (Tjarlirli Arts)
Robert Fielding (Mimili Maku Arts)
David Frank (Iwantja Arts and Craft)
Levina Morton (Artists of Ampilatwatja)
Christine Multa (Ikuntji Artists)
Sally Mulda Nungala (Tangentyere Artists)
Shirley Namatjira (Yarrenyty Arltere art centre)
Vincent Namatjira (Iwantja Arts and Crafts)
Gloria Pannka (Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra – Many Hands)
Hubert Pareoultja (Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra– Many Hands)
Constance Robinya (Yarrenyty Arltere art centre)
Marlene Rubuntja (Yarrenyty Arltere art centre)
Sally Rubuntja (Yarrenyty Arltere art centre)
Rhonda Sharpe (Yarrenyty Arltere art centre)
Ntaria School Students (Ntaria/Hermannsburg)
Peter Tjutjata Taylor (Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra – Many Hands)
Jason Japaljarri Woods (PAW Media)
Curators:
Phillip Watkins (Desart Inc.)
Dr Jennifer Biddle (NIEA, UNSW Art & Design)
Dr Lisa Stefanoff (NIEA, UNSW Art & Design)
Curatorial Advisor:
Brenda L. Croft
Source: National Institute for Experimental Art, Sydney