Warakurna: All the stories got into our minds and eyes
26 January - 31 March 2019
Warakurna: All the Stories Got into our Minds and Eyes is an exhibition of contemporary paintings and sculptures that document a new art movement emerging from the Western Desert community of Warakurna. These paintings combine familiar Western Desert symbols and dots with a new, more figurative style, to recreate scenes of everyday life and to tell historical and contemporary stories.
Warakurna artists have developed a distinctive painting style using figurative elements combined with more traditional forms of Western Desert art. Their approach to their art and storytelling is dynamic and innovative, employing a variety of media.
The Warakurna community lies near the foot of the spectacular Rawlinson Range, 300 kilometres west of Uluru (Ayers Rock). This Western Desert community is situated near the meeting of the borders of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. About 180 people live in Warakurna. The community has a long history of artistic expression and Warakurna Artists is a thriving art centre at the heart of the community.
The people of Warakurna speak Ngaanyatjarra as their first language and refer to themselves as ‘Yarnangu’. Ngaanyatjarra is a language from the Western Desert, a broad area that stretches across the Western Australian interior, western South Australia and the south-west corner of the Northern Territory. Ngaanyatjarra people have strong ties with neighbouring Western Desert groups, including the Pintupi and Pitjantjatjara, who speak dialects of the same language and have a similar contact history.
Western Desert people were among the last Aboriginal people in Australia to have contact with Europeans. In the Warakurna area, contact between Yarnangu and Europeans was sporadic until the 1950s.
Warakurna: All the Stories Got into our Minds and Eyes is a touring exhibition from the National Museum of Australia, Canberra.
Click here for more information on the exhibition
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