Stories in our Songs - Indigenous Musicians of the Northern Territory
Yulyurlu - Lorna Fencer Napurrurla
Djalkiri: We are standing on their names - Blue Mud Bay
The Beanie Festival - Colours of the Country II
Northern Impressions - A Celebration of Contemporary Printmaking
Eugenia Lim - Live-in performance
Artback NT’s visual arts program is assisted by the Northern Territory Government through the Department of Arts and Museums and by the Commonwealth Government through its arts funding and advisory body, the Australia Council for the Arts and is also part of the National Exhibitions Touring Support (NETS) network.
Stories in our Songs - Indigenous Musicians of the Northern Territory
Stories in our Songs Indigenous Musicians of the Northern Territory (Stories) is a new screen work that illuminates the musical landscape of Australian Indigenous musicians across the Territory from the Central Desert region to the Top End. Through digital imagery, text, animations, footage, and audio, the work highlights Indigenous music and shares some special stories.The exploration of gospel, rock, country, soul, and traditional Yolngu music reveals the triumphs, hardships, and joy articulated by the musicians and underlines the political, social, and cultural issues told as stories in the songs both past and present.
Music is an expression of culture and ideas. Building on this notion, Stories supports Indigenous musicians to tell their story in the way which they want it to be told. Musicians reconnecting with their family lineage through the celebration of song and music and the stories told by songs such as Land Rights by The Sunrize Band (1994), Jailanguru Pakarnu (Out of Jail) by Warumpi Band (1993) and Timeless Land by Yothu Yindi (1993) are still relevant today.
This screen work will tour for a period of three years to festivals and communities within the Northern Territory and be screened at public events, and celebrations of Indigenous heritage nationally.
Photos:
Top - Warumpi Band, Papunya Hall 1981.
Pictured from left to right: Gordon Butcher (drums), Neil Murray (guitar/vocals),
Sammy Butcher (guitar), Denis Minor (bass), the late G. R. Burarrwanga, (vocals/ percussion).
Photo courtesy of Neil Murray.
Bottom - The Sunrize Band and the late G. R. Burarrwanga, Survival Concert, La Perouse, Sydney, 1993. Pictured from left to right: Ben Pascoe (vocals, guitar), Wayne Kala Kala (guitar vocal), the late Kenny Smith (guitar), Terry Pascoe (bass), Horace Wala Wala (didjeridoo, vocals, tamborine, clapsticks). Centre: the late G. R. Burarrwanga.
Photo courtesy of the Ellen Comiskey collection.
Top: Billy Kenda Tjampitjinpa, Untitled, 2010, Acrylic paint on Belgian linen, 30 x 30cm
Bottom: Kukula McDonald, Untitled, 2010, Acrylic paint on Belgian linen, 42 x 60cm.
Photos courtesy of Bindi Inc. Mwerre Anthurre Artists
Please contact us if you are interested in hosting this exhibition.
In partnership with Arts Access Darwin, this touring exhibition will showcase the extraordinary works that have been produced through Art Centres in the Northern Territory by established and emerging Indigenous artists with disabilities.
The exhibition includes artists from
Ngaruwanajirri on Bathurst (Tiwi) Island
Mwerre Anthurre Artists, based at Bindi Inc. in Alice Springs
and Julalikari Arts in Tennant Creek.
It is envisioned that this exhibition will work towards raising the profile of artists who too often are placed into a narrow ‘art therapy’ model, yet their practice is often groundbreaking. This exhibition aims to be inclusive and to celebrate diverse artistic talent.
Touring 2011-13
This exhibition is proudly sponsored by
Good Strong Powerful Tour Itinerary
Good Strong Powerful Exhibition Brochure
Good Strong Powerful Education Kit - Lower Secondary
Good Strong Powerful Education Kit - Upper Secondary
Good Strong Powerful Education Kit - Teaching Notes
Good Strong Powerful Education Kit - Research Notes
Good Strong Powerful Education Kit - Labels
Yulyurlu - Lorna Fencer Napurrurla
Presented in partnership with Mimi Arts and Craft, Katherine
Curator: Margie West
Yulyurlu Lorna Fencer Napurrurla is the first major survey exhibition of desert artist Yulyurlu (c1924-2006) that traces her development as a highly original artist during her twenty years of practice. This exhibition higlights her importance within the Lajamanu region and positions Yulyurlu within the broader framework of the central desert art movement. A prolific artist, she has been represented in many solo and group selling exhibitions as well as in three major exhibitions curated by The Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Yulyurlu is often likened to the famous Emily Kngwarreye because of her gestural and spontaneous reworking of the central desert idiom. They were contemporaries who independently developed in parallel and quite radical directions. Lorna Fencer, however, is not as well appreciated for her contribution, so an appraisal of the historical and artistic significance of her work is long overdue.
Touring August 2011 – January 2013
Catalogue Yulyurlu Lorna Fencer Napurrurla
edited by Margie West $34.95 Available for sale at: www.wakefieldpress.com.au
Yulyurlu - Exhibition opening at Chan in Darwin
Education Resources
Yulyurlu Education Kit - Lower Primary
Yulyurlu Education Kit - Lower Secondary
Yulyurlu Education Kit - Upper Secondary
Lorna Fencer Napurrurla, Yarla, 1997,
Synthetic polymer paint on cotton, 200 x 148cm.
This exhibition is supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia.
Djalkiri: we are standing on their names - Blue Mud Bay
This exquisite series of prints is the culmination of a vibrant and intensive cross-cultural exchange between five highly respected Yithuwa Madarrpa artists and four renowned artists from across Australia. In October 2009 artists Djambawa Marawili, Marrirra Marawili, Liyawaday Wirrpanda, Marrnyula Mununggurr and Mulkun Wirrpanda participated in a printmaking workshop with master printmaker Basil Hall at the community of Yilpara working alongside visiting artists Fiona Hall, John Wolseley, Jörg Schmeisser and Judy Watson. The 23 selected exhibition works resulting from this exchange capture essential aspects of country at Blue Mud Bay in Eastern Arnhem Land, recognised as one of the most pristine and culturally significant places in Australia.
The title, Djalkiri: we are standing on their names - Blue Mud Bay, drawn from the words of Djambawa Marawili, Djalkiri literally means ‘footprint’, however when applied to Yolgnu law it takes on a more profound meaning, forming the ‘spiritual foundation of the world’. It is an acknowledgement of cultural inheritance based on understanding and mutual respect. It is about walking together in the footsteps of the ancestors.
At Yilpara the artists made trips to country - accompanied by ethno-biologist Glenn Wightman, anthropologist Howard Morphy and photographer Peter Eve - visiting ancestral sites and sharing traditional and scientific knowledge. Around the campfire at night they discussed culture, history, sea rights and events, each of the artists responding to the experience in their own way.
John Wolseley, Sea Wrack: Tide after Tide - Baniyala,
2010, etching, 50 x 62 cm
Photo courtesy of Nomad Art Productions
Touring 2011-13
PDF Downloads
Djalkiri Education Kit - Lower Secondary
Djalkiri Education Kit - Upper Secondary
Djalkiri Education Kit - Project Notes
Please contact us if you are interested
in hosting this exhibition.
The Alice Springs Beanie Festival -
Colours of the Country II
Supported by the Alice Springs Beanie Festival, Arts NT and Artback NT: Arts Development and Touring.
As iconic Australian headwear, the beanie has been celebrated by the Alice Springs Beanie Festival since 1996. Attracting contributors from around Australia and overseas, beanie makers compete in events like
'Australia’s Flashest Beanie.'
This exhibition was developed by Artback NT and the Alice Springs Beanie Festival as a celebration of a dynamic community arts event, as well as to share in the joy of creativity with beanie lovers everywhere. Colours of the Country 2 demonstrates the growth of the beanie as an artform over the years and the imagination, creativity and fine craftsmanship presented in each piece. It is a colourful exhibition encapsulating the whimsical essence of the Beanie Festival. The collection also highlights the works produced by Indigenous artists from the Central Desert region who are regular collaborators in this cross cultural event. An exhibition embraced by a broad cross section of the community, the collection will inspire audiences to laugh,
don crazy headwear and knit.
| PDF Downloads |
| Education Kit Part 1 |
| Education Kit Part 2 |
| Beanie Education Sheet |
Please contact us if you are interested
in hosting this exhibition.
Top: Stephanie Campbell, Titjikala Community, Camel, 2009, Crochet with needle felting, 19 x 19 x21cm.
Middle: Niningka Lewis, Ernabella, Teapot Mukata, circa 2010, crochet with tjanpi woven teapot, 20 x20 x22cm.
Bottom: Pantjiti McKenzie from Alice Springs demonstrates at the festival workshop.
Photographer: Dave Nixon.
Northern Impressions - A Celebration of Contemporary Printmaking
Northern Impressions is a vibrant celebration of Australian contemporary fine art prints, presented by Artback NT: Arts Development and Touring, in conjunction with Northern Editions, Charles Darwin University.
Wayne Eager, Figurescape (State II), etching, 61.4 x 24.7cm
Photos courtesy of Northern Editions, Charles Darwin University, Darwin.
Harry (Nabiru) Bullen, Winpa screenprint, 51 x 41cm
Northern Impressions takes its audience on a rich visual journey through the Australian landscape and into Aboriginal ‘country’, where the intrinsic connection that the exhibiting artists have to land is given powerful visual form through the medium of printmaking. The exhibition celebrates the highlights of recent artistic collaborations between some of Australia’s most talented artists and professional printmakers working at Northern Editions at Charles Darwin University.
Northern Impressions showcases 53 limited edition prints by artists from across the Top End, Central Australia, Mornington and Bentinck Islands and Kimberley regions. The exhibition reveals the beauty and diversity of artistic expression in these regions, each with their own distinct visual language. Produced with Northern Editions in Darwin since 2004, this selection of the printmaking studio’s finest prints will challenge and delight audience perceptions of the printmaking medium, displaying its limitless potential for collaborative virtuosity, technical excellence and luminous colour.
An iconic Northern Territory art institution, Northern Editions is well known locally and nationally for the limited edition fine art prints it produces. The Northern Editions team of printmakers have been collaborating with Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to produce fine art prints since 1993 through the printmaking workshops they hold, which often take place in remote communities as well as at the Darwin studio. Together, printmakers and artists have collaborated to create prints that celebrate the strength, beauty and diversity of printmaking in northern Australia.
Touring 2011-13
Northern Impressions Tour Itinerary
PDF Downloads
Northern Impressions Catalogue
Wall text - Charles Darwin University Northern Editions background
Wall text - Northern Impressions collection
Wall text - The Making of Fine Art Prints
Please contact us if you are interested in hosting this exhibition.
Eugenia Lim - Live-in Performance
Eugenia Lim is a video and interdisciplinary artist based in Melbourne. Her work spans video, photography, installation and cross-disciplinary practice to explore themes of identity, cultural stereotypes, mythology and race.
Exploring the Japanese phenomenon of hikikomori or ‘shut in’ syndrome, Eugenia will live in a bedroom-style installation within Red Hot Arts Space in Alice Springs. Although physically ‘on view’ to gallery goers, communication between Eugenia and the outside world will occur via a web portal or ‘hiki-site’ through which everyone is invited to chat and participate in the project from their own networked phones and computers.
A project of interest for anyone whose life intersects with technology and the Internet, the Alice Springs event will be streamed live to Darwin via 24HR Art.
1 - 10 August, 2013
Red Hot Arts Space, Alice Springs
More information about Eugenia's work is available on her website.
Artists are invited to apply for this exciting new initiative that will enable an artist to create a new body of work in response to the dynamic Alice Springs and central Australian region. Applications are open until 28 February 2013.
More information is available here.
The application form is available here.
Artback NT acknowledges the Aboriginal Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we exhibit.