Three new exhibitions at the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute on Kaurna Country, explores various aspects of Indigenous culture through a variety of artistic mediums.
Saltwater Country
Showcasing works by 16 acclaimed Indigenous artists from Queensland, whose work feature stories of historical, environmental and personal concerns, utilising the artists strong cultural connections to their saltwater country – Queensland’s coastline, sea and waterways.
Artists featured in Saltwater Country include Vernon Ah Kee, Daniel Boyd, Michael Cook, Megan Cope, Fiona Foley, Rosella Namok, Mavis Ngallametta, Laurie Nilsen, Napolean Oui, Ryan Presley, Brian Robinson, Ken Thaiday, Alick Tipoti, Ian Waldron, Judy Watson, and a collaborative work by Erub Arts.
Curated by Michael Aird and and Virginia Rigney, Saltwater Country is an exhibition partnership between Museums & Galleries Queensland and Gold Coast City Gallery, and is on display until 6 June 2016.
Nature Calls
Trevor ‘Turbo’ Brown is a Latje Latje man of many talents who has been known as a painter, boxer and rapper. His career as an artist has taken off as his unique artistic talent has become recognised. His intense and vibrant works depicting animals hark back to when he was a teen living on the Mildura streets and the animals were his only friends.
He paints animals and birds such as cockatoos, wombats and dingoes in a unique and expressive style. Turbo’s first solo exhibition at the Koorie Heritage Trust in Melbourne in 2004 was a sell-out, with almost all of the pieces bought by the opening night. Subsequently Turbo has achieved international recognition for his original and inspired paintings.
His work was in the finals of the 22nd National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2005, 2006, and 2008. In 2012 Turbo won the Deadly Art Award, Victoria’s highest honour for an Indigenous artist, for his painting Owl Dreaming. Nature Calls is on display until 9 July 2016
Pampa Mara Tjanpi
Tjanpi (meaning wild harvested grass) began in 1995 as a series of basket-making workshops facilitated by NPY Women’s Council in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands of WA. Women wanted meaningful and culturally appropriate employment on their homelands so as to better provide for their families.
Building upon a long history of using natural fibres to make objects for ceremonial and daily use, women took quickly to coiled basketry and were soon sharing their new found skills with relatives and friends on neighbouring communities. It was not long before they began experimenting with producing sculptural forms.
Today there are over 400 women across three states making spectacular contemporary fibre art from locally collected grasses and working with fibre in this way has become a fundamental part of Central and Western Desert culture. Developed by the Art Museum of Western Australia, Pampa Mara Tjanpi is on display until 9 July 2016.
Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute is located at 253 Grenfell Street, Adelaide. For more information, visit: www.tandanya.com.au for details.
Image: Turbo Brown, kurdaitcha Man feeding his magpie mates, 2015. 91cm x 122cm – photo by Chris Geracitano