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Ngarralaja Tommy May

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Born: 1935
Country: Yarrnkurnja, Great Sandy Desert
Language: Wangkatjunga / Walmajarri

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

Exhibitions
with wife Dorothy, Jilji Jaa Martuwarra, Brigitte Braun Gallery, Melbourne 2007
This is Still My Country... 10 years on, Perth International Arts Festival- Artplace, Perth, WA
Ngurrara Canvas, Perth International Arts Festival Perth Concert Hall
Broken Promises, Short Street Gallery, Broome
2004
Murrkunkura Ngarrangkarnijangka Ngurrara; Three men's countries from the Dreamtime, Raft Artspace Darwin
Jila jumu jiwari & wirrkuja, Cullity Gallery , University of Western Australia
2003
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
2002
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 2003 2004
2001
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
2000
Story Boards Ceramic tiles from the Kimberley, Fremantle Art Centre
1999
Mangkaja, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1998
Heritage Commission Art Award, Old Parliament House Canberra
1997
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
1996
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
1995
Ngajakura Ngurrara Minyarti, this is my country, Festival of Perth Exhibition, Artplace, WA
1994
Images of Power; Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria
1993
Publications & Reviews
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
2003
Native Title Business Contemporary Indigenous Art, ed Joan Winter Gurang Land Council / Regional Galleries Assn Qld
Kurtal; Snake Spirit , Video Documentary / ABC Television
2002
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
2001
Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art , Oxford University Press & ANU
Karrayili The history of Karrayili Adult Education Centre, IATSIS Canberra
2000
Jila Painted Waters of the Great Sandy Desert, Video Documentary / SBS Television
1998
Ngajakura Ngurrara Minyarti, This Is My Country, Exhibition Catalogue
1994
Awards, Commissions
WA International Artists Workshop Walpole WA
2001
Residency Carlton College Northfield Minnesota and Kennesaw State University, USA
1999
Runner-up in the Fremantle Print Award
1995
Third Prize, Heritage Commission Art Award
1994
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