4 White Street Windsor Vic 3181 Tel/Fax +61 3 9521 2324 artplace@iinet.net.au
Born: 1935
Country: Yarrnkurnja, Great Sandy Desert
Language: Wangkatjunga / WalmajarriNgarralja 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 | ||
