Spinifex Artists
Spinifex Artists at Tjuntjuntjara, in the Great Victorian Desert east of Kalgoorlie, create artworks showing their ancestral homelands
Tjuntjuntjara is the home community for the Spinifex Artists, 700kms north-east east of Kalgoorlie in the Great Victorian Desert. These artists are known for their direct and powerful paintings showing the traditional country of their forebears. The paintings have the immediate connection of people whose entire history is tied up in the links between their families and the waterholes and hunting grounds that have been central to their existence for vast periods of time.
The artists produce their paintings for the Spinifex Arts Project at Tjuntjuntjara. The senior male artists include Simon Hogan, Roy Underwood, Ned Grant, Byron Brooks, Ian Rictor, Lennard Walker. Women artists include Tjaruwa (Angelina) Woods, Carlene West, Kathleen Donnegan, Yarangka Elaine Thomas and Myrtle Pennington. The artists are well represented in national and international collections, which include the British Museum, London.
Selected Exhibitions
2000 Pila Nguru – Art and Song of the Spinifex People, Western Australian Museum, Perth WA and national tour
2001 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2002 Putitja Nguru – Art of the Spinifex People, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2002 Pititja- New Paintings from the Spinifex Homelands, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney NSW
2003 Spinifex Paintings, Raintree Gallery, Darwin NT
2003 Spinifex Art 03, Span Galleries, Melbourne VIC
2004 Spinifex Artists, Zurich House, Switzerland
2005 Spinifex Artist, Seattle Museum, Washington USA
2005 Law and Land, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2005 Spinifex Artists, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London UK
2005 Tarlitja Nguru, Spinifex Paintings from Ilkurlka, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, Sydney NSW
2005 Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2006 Spinifex Exhibition – The Dreamings, Flinders Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2006 Art of the Spinifex People, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2006 Spinifex – New Works, Marshall Arts, Adelaide SA
2006 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs NT
2007 New Spinifex Works, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2007 Seattle Arts Museum, Seattle WA USA
2007 Best of the Best, Framed Gallery Darwin NT
2007 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs NT
2007 Spinifex Artists: 10 Years On, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2008 Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, Art Gallery of Western Australia
2008 Spinifex Artists Recent Work, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2008 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs NT
2008 Kapi Ninti: Knowing Water Knowing Country, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2008 Spinifex Artists Recent Work, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2008 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs NT
2008 Indigenous Art Exhibition, Burswood Dome, Perth WA
2009 Spinifex Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2009 Tracking the Wati Kutjara, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney NSW
2009 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs NT
2010 Spinifex Arts Project 2010, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
2010 Desert Mob, Araluen Survey Show, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2010 Spinifex Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2010 Australian Contemporary Indigenous Art Now, Chiaroscuro Gallery in association with Vivien Gallery Anderson, Santa Fe USA
2010 Spinifex Arts Project 2010, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2010 Desert Country, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA and national tour
2011 Living Water- Contemporary Art of the Far Western Desert, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC
2011 Uwankara – Whole Lot of Everything: Paintings from the APY/NPY Lands and Spinifex Country 2002-2011, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2011 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs NT
2011 Spinifex Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Spinifex – People of the Sun and Shadow, John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Perth WA
2012 Tupun Nguranguru – People of the Sandhill Country’ 45 Downstairs Gallery, Vivien Anderson, Melbourne VIC
2013 The 30th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander Art Award, Darwin NT
2013 Spinifex Arts Project, ArtKelch, Freiburg, Munich, Hamburg, Bodensee, Lake Constance, Germany
2013 Kuwaritja – New Works of the Spinifex People, Outstation Gallery, Darwin NT
2013 Tjuntjuntjara Punu Project, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2013 Salon des Refuses, Outstation and Paul Johnstone Galleries, Darwin NT (Men’s Collaborative)
2013 Spinifex Country, Flinders University Art Museum, Flinders University City Gallery and the South Australian Museum’s Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery, Adelaide SA
2013 The Wild Ones, Raft Artplace, Alice Springs NT
2013 New Iconic, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2014 Spinifex Arts Project 2014, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2014 Spinifex Tjukurpa, ReDot Gallery, Singapore
2014 Tjuntjuntjara – Recent Works from Spinifex Country, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2014 Pila – Spinifex Land, Outstation Gallery, Parap, Darwin NT
2014 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs NT
2014 Salon des Refuses, Outstation and Paul Johnstone Galleries, Darwin NT
2014 Australian Contemporary Indigenous Art 111, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art in association with Vivien Anderson Gallery, Santa Fe USA
2014 Tjuntjuntjara Nguratja- Tjuntjuntjara is Home, Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, Idaho USA
2014 Australian Contemporary Indigenous Art 111, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art in association with Vivien Anderson Gallery, Santa Fe USA
2014 Spinifex Artists 2014, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA