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Ngarralja is a Wangkatjunga / Walmajarri man. He was born in the
Great Sandy Desert and was taught how to hunt and kill his
own meat before he had any contact with kartiya (Europeans).
He is now referred to as karrayili which means middle aged person.
He is not yet an elder but he has been given the job as spokesman
by his old people. He is fluent in both Wangkatjunga and Walmajarri
languages as well as English. He also writes Walmajarri. He was
one of the first people to start up the Karrayili Adult Education
centre because he wanted to learn to read and write his own language
and English.
He is an important person for arts and culture business here in
Fitzroy Crossing. He dances and sings Kurtal , a ceremony relating
to a main jila (living waterhole) in his country. He is also a
painter and printmaker.
He lives with his wife and nine children at Mindi Rardi Community,
Fitzroy Crossing
Exhibition History
Group Exhibitions
1993
Images of Power; Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley, National
Gallery of Victoria
1994 Ngajakura Ngurrara Minyarti, this is
my country, Festival
of Perth Exhibition, Artplace, WA
1995 National Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Art Award,
Museum and Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin, Selected
to tour nationally with the first NATSIAA travelling exhibition
Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Art Centre
Prints from the APW Collection, Survey show of recent works
from the APW archive, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne
1996 MangkajAPW, Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute,
Adelaide
eritage Commission Art Award, Old Parliament House Canberra
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award,
Museum and Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Art Centre
1997 Heritage Commission Art Award, Old Parliament House
Canberra
1998 Mangkaja, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1999 Story Boards Ceramic tiles from the Kimberley, Fremantle
Art Centre
2000 Cutting Comments: Contemporary
Lino cut Prints 1995 -98, Silk Cut Award travelling exhibt.
Proof Positive, Gold Treasury Museum, Melbourne
People in a Landscape: Contemporary Australian Prints, Cultural
Centre of the Phillipines, Manila
Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Art Centre
2001 Ngurrara Canvas, National Gallery of Australia
impressions An exhibition of prints, Coomalie Culture Centre
/ Batchelor NT
18th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
Award,
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Mangkaja Arts Ten Years On Mangkaja’s 10 year
Anniversary Show, Tandanya, Adelaide
2002 Native Title Business Contemporary
Indigenous Art, National
Travelling Exhibition
The 16th Asian International Art Exhibition, Guangdong Museum
of Art in Guangzhou, China
Group Show, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Murrkunkura Ngarrangkarnijangka
Ngurrara; Three men's
countries from the Dreamtime, Raft Artspace Darwin
Jila jumu jiwari & wirrkuja, Cullity Gallery , University
of Western Australia
2004 This is Still My Country... 10
years on, Perth International
Arts Festival- Artplace, Perth, WA
Ngurrara Canvas, Perth International Arts Festival Perth
Concert Hall
Awards
1994
Third Prize, Heritage Commission Art Award
1995 Runner-up
in the Fremantle Print Award
1999 Residency Carlton College
Northfield
Minnesota and Kennesaw State University, USA
2001 WA International
Artists Workshop Walpole WA
Publications
1994 Ngajakura
Ngurrara Minyarti, This Is My Country, Exhibition
Catalogue
1998 Jila Painted Waters of the Great
Sandy Desert, Video Documentary
/ SBS Television
2000 Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art , Oxford University
Press & ANU
Karrayili The history of Karrayili Adult Education Centre,
IATSIS Canberra
2001 Painting Up Big, The Ngurrara Canvas,
Kaltja Now National Aboriginal Cultural Institute - Tandanya
18th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
Award,
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
2002 Native
Title Business Contemporary Indigenous Art, ed Joan Winter
Gurang Land Council / Regional Galleries Assn Qld
Kurtal; Snake Spirit , Video Documentary / ABC Television
2003 Australian Art Collector, Review / Maurice O’Riordan
Martuwarra and Jila, Jumu, Jiwari and Wirrkuja, Exhibition
Catalogue Cullity Gallery UWA Perth / Mangkaja Arts Resource
Agency
The Painted Desert The Fate of an Aboriginal Masterpiece, New
Yorker Magazine July 28
Collections
National Gallery of Victoria, Curtin University Collection,
Queensland State Gallery, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, Australian
Print Workshop, Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University, Carleton
College Art Collection, Northfield Minnesota, Kennesaw State University,
Atlanta Georgia
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