Australia’s largest celebration of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island art and culture, the Tarnanthi festival opened this week in Adelaide. Between the talks, exhibitions and events, including a three-day art fair, work from more than 1,000 artists from across the country features at galleries around the city – with a focus on work from the seven art centres that span the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands.
A selection of some of the work featured at Tarnanthi is presented here. The festival runs until 22 October, with the Art Gallery of South Australia’s exhibition continuing until 28 January 2018.
Antara (2017)
by Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara artist Betty Kuntiwa Puman, the winner of the 2017 Wynne prize for landscape painting.
Photograph: Saul Steed/Art Gallery of South Australia
Saddened Were the Hearts of Many Men
by Launceston artist Ricky Maynard, of the Ben Lomond and Cape Portland people, who photographed portraits of 12 Tasmanian elders for the series.
Photograph: Art Gallery of South Australia
Kulata Tjuta – a work for Kunmanara (Gordon) Ingkatji
by senior men from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands: Alec Baker, Eric Kunmanara Barney, Taylor Wanyima Cooper, Pepai Jangala Carroll, Sammy Dodd, Ronnie Douglas, Stanley Douglas, Arnie Frank, David Frank, Witjiti George, Rupert Jack, Willy Kaika Burton, Brenton Ken, Freddy Ken, Ray Ken, Peter Mungkuri, Vincent Namatjira, David Pearson, Jimmy Pompey, Willy Muntjantji Martin, Mick Wikilyiri, Mumu Mike Williams, and Anwar Young.
Kungkarangkalpa – Seven Sisters
by senior women from the APY lands. Like the men’s painting, it was acquired by the art gallery of South Australia for the 2017 Tarnanthi festival. The artists are Freda Brady, Wawiriya Burton, Angkaliya Eadie Curtis, Tjangili Tjapukula George, Sandra Goodwin, Beryl Jimmy, Nyurpaya Kaika Burton, Iluwanti Ungkutjuru Ken, Sylvia Ken, Tjungkara Ken, Manyitjanu Lennon, Betty Muffler, Matjangka Nyukana Norris, Mary Katatjuku Pan, Betty Kuntiwa Pumani, Antjala Tjayangka Robin, Alison Munti Riley, Tjariya Nungalka Stanley, Carlene Thompson, Maringka Tunkin, Jeannie Wallatina, Judy Wallatina, Puna Yanima, and Yaritji Young.
Before and after (2016)
by Vanessa Inkamala, a Western Arrernte woman from the Northern Territory. This etching is part of Under Pressure, an exhibition of prints by First Nations artists created by Cicada Press within the University of NSW.
Photograph: Saul Steed/Art Gallery of South Australia
Ghost net
by artists at Erub on Darnley Island in the Torres Strait, who collect discarded, drifting fishing nets – known as ghost nets – and form them into sculptures of marine animals to urge people to take better care of the marine environment.
Photograph: Lynette Griffiths/Art Gallery of South Australia
Crab Creek and Moat Creek
by the late Gija artist Freddie Ngarrmaliny Timms. This natural ochre painting is part of the Jirrawun Collection of work from Jirrawun Arts, an artist-led organisation which operated in the Kimberley between 1998-2010.
Photograph: Rosita Holmes/Warmun Art Centre
Kurrkapi (Desert oak) (2017)
by Wangkatjungka artist Lisa Uhl, part of the collection from Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency in Fitzroy Crossing.
Photograph: Art Gallery of South Australia
Mineral Man (2017)
by South Hedland artist Nyaparu William Gardiner, from the Nyangumarta, Warnman, and Manjilyjarra peoples of Western Australia.
Photograph: Art Gallery of South Australia
Trump and Obama
by Vincent Namatjira, great-grandson of Albert Namatjira, who has painted a series of portraits of modern political figures. Namatjira is a Western Arrernte man based at Indulkana, South Australia.
Photograph: Art Gallery of South Australia
Kulata tjuta (many spears)
The Kulata Tjuta installation at the Tarnanthi exhibition features more than 600 spears and several piti, or carriers, arranged in circles underneath. It is part of a wider project by more than 50 artists from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands; this installation represents the devastation following the Maralinga nuclear testing, and shows the weapons the traditional people had to hand to fight the effects of an atomic bomb.
Photograph: Saul Steed/Art Gallery of South Australia
Tjala Tjukurpa (honey ant story)
by Pitjantjatjara artist Yaritji Young.
Photograph: Saul Steed/Art Gallery of South Australia
