Warlukurlangu Artists – the largest and arguably the most successful Aboriginal arts centre in central Australia – if not Australia – will next month take an exhibition of recent work to New Delhi in India.
The exhibition, entitled “Desert Dreamings“, will be shown at the Open Palm Court Gallery at The India Habitat Centre on Lodhi Road in New Delhi from 6 to 12 April 2009 and will be opened by Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Mr John McCarthy. Warlukurlangu’s travel and accommodation have been assisted by Austrade.
I asked Warlukurlangu’s manager, Cecilia Alfonso, how she came to be taking Warlpiri art from central Australia all the way to India.
Cecilia explained that a few years ago she was in Canberra with a group of artists undergoing eye surgery (a great innovation of Warlukurlangu’s that I’ll discuss in a future post) when they ran into Durga Vishwanthan, a friend of Warlukurlangu’s assistant manager Gloria Morales.
As Cecilia told me:
Durga offered to help us put on an exhibition of Aboriginal art in New Delhi. She is an avid, passionate collector of Aboriginal art and I don’t think there have been many exhibitions of Aboriginal art in India.
So here we are a few years down the track.. the global economy has crashed, gloom and doom all around and we are spending a bloody fortune going half way around the world to try to flog a few pics…
We will try our hardest to sell some paintings. We are taking over a beautiful selection of affordable emerging work which, from our experience is the best way to enter a new market.
Accompanying Cecilia to India will be Warlukurlangu Artists Chair Otto Jungarrayi Sims and his wife Ormay Nangala Gallagher and while there will be a lots of work involved in setting up and running the exhibition, there will also be some time for a little sightseeing and shopping.
Cecilia says that:
We were keen to go over to India sometime and do a bit of shopping so we decided to go ahead…we also really want to see the Taj Mahal.
I’ve seen it before but it’s well worth seeing twice.
Warlukurlangu Artists has been operating since 1985 and represents over 400 central Australian artists (mainly from the Warlpiri and Anmatyerre language groups) living mainly in the townships of Yuendumu and Nyirripi, both over 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.
Art from Warlukurlangu Artists has always been known for it’s strong iconography and use of a vivid palette and in recent years has become particularly sought after in the international and domestic markets.
For more information about Warlukurlangu go to their website for contact details, loads of background information and their online gallery.
For more information on other central Australian art centres go to the DESART – the Association of Central Australian Aboriginal
Art and Craft Centres.
All Desart member Art Centres are owned and managed by Aboriginal people in their own communities.
Enjoy!
4 Comments
As a group of people I have often been impressed with their artistic talent. They have always struck me as being much more attuned to abstract, subjective concepts than our mathematical, objective selves. I have seen “ordinary” Aboriginal people do some pretty good artwork just using Paint – although this was when they should have really been working! I have some artwork bought from people whom I have met, some of which is the usual dot paintings, others are contemporary and abstract. It’s advantageous to know them personally – a darn sight less expensive than a gallery!
Incidentally I see there is a new quarterly Aboriginal art magazine being published.
John, thanks for your comments about and I think that one of the clues to Aboriginal affinity to art and graphic representation comes in some large part from a familiarity, at least here in central Australia, with iconic graphical representation through such media as sand-drawing, where often everyday events are relayed, as much as mnemomics as for any overt artistic purpose.
And I’m working on a post on the new Australian Aboriginal Art magazine…I have a copy but yet to have a good look at it.
Bob, personally I have my own theories regarding the differing aptitudes of us and them. Our world is science driven, precise and objective and this has helped us survive (admittedly at the expense of the rest of the world!). Theirs, I am sure you have noticed, certainly does not have much science, is imprecise and subjective yet this seems to have done them no harm; you could argue that this has helped them survive in an adverse environment when we are struggling to. They are the complete opposites and I wonder if this is why there is so much conflict; we just don’t understand each other.
Incidentally there is an anatomical correlation to this; the left hemisphere of the brain is the more mathematical one, the right is the more subjective and which side dominates largely determines what you are good or not so good at.
Of course I could be wrong………