Hazelhurst Arts Centre will host an exhibition, Pmarra Nurna-kanhala Untha-lapp-urma : Walking Through Country of 50 works by 16 key Indigenous watercolour artists including Gloria Pannka, Ivy Pareroultja and Hubert Pareroultja to celebrate NAIDOC Week 2019.
All artists are from the Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre in the Northern Territory.
The watercolour works cover the Western Arrarnta country from Alice Springs to the West MacDonnell Ranges. The artists from the Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre paint in the tradition of their grandfather and relative, Albert Namatjira. All works will be for sale.
Marisa Maher from Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre and curator of the exhibition said the continuance of the watercolour tradition by our Indigenous artists is vital so people can see and appreciate the land we live on. Country is important to us and we continue to look after our land. Some of us do not like it when there is mining on our country as it destroys the land. Some of the artworks in this exhibition deal with the impact of the mining industry on Country, how it benefits mining companies and not the people of the land. Many artists paint the same site, but each person paints the place using different colours, textures, and amount of detail; this comes from their experience of living at that place. The exhibition also features etchings and unique state monoprints produced in collaboration with Cicada Press at UNSW Art & Design in Sydney. In an ongoing relationship, Iltja Ntjarra artists travel to work in this educationally focused workshop, engaging with new media to extend ideas and practices. This year’s residency resulted in multiple-plate colour etchings and experiments with a watercolour based monoprinting technique ideally suited to the Namatjira tradition.
Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre based in Alice Springs is proudly Aboriginal owned and directed. It is the home of the Namatjira watercolour artists.
Operating since 2004 the arts centre was established to provide a place for Western Arrarnta artists to come together to paint, share and learn new techniques and ideas. The Art Centre is strongly committed to improving economic participation of Aboriginal people and maintaining cultural heritage.
Iltja Ntjarra has a special focus on supporting the ‘Hermannsburg School’ style watercolour artists, who continue to paint in the tradition of their grandfather and relative, Albert Namatjira, arguably one of Australia’s most famous artists of the 20th century.
Details:
Pmarra Nurna-kanhala Untha-lapp-urma : Walking Through Country
Artists from the lltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Arts Centre
Broadhurst Gallery
Hazelhurst Arts Centre
29 June – 9 July 2019
782 Kingsway, Gymea.
Featured image – Mervyn Rubuntja ‘Plenty Highway, near Yumba, 2019, watercolour.