Pammy Foster & Magdalene Foster

Japingka Gallery is pleased to present the first two-artist show by young rising stars of the Epenarra community, sisters Magdalene Kemarr Foster and Pammy Kemarr Foster.

Epenarra is along the Davenport Ranges in the Barkly Tablelands, and the community of Wutunugurra is home to about 200 people. The amenities are a school and a health centre, a church and an outback store. The artists’ studio is the centre of creative activity and Epenarra artists are a prolific hub of the Artists of the Barkly collective. Their style depicts traditional Country and the Iytwelepenty landscape of the Davenport Ranges National Park. Artists typically use a high frequency colour palette to show the country rich with bush medicine and bush tucker plants.

Magdalene Foster born 1993 has been taught by her mother, aunts and grandmother in the painting tradition that celebrates their homelands. Magdalene says “After rain, every plant grows- my paintings are about the land. We go hunting, take the children to see Country, to collect bush medicine and bush tucker.” Pammy Kemarr Foster born 1993, has also painted from a young age and has learnt from major artists, her aunt Susie Peterson and her grandmother Jessie Peterson. She says “I like to learn more about my country, my grandmother’s country. Painting is the way of learning.”

This exhibition shows the continuing tradition of the Barkly landscape painters and the role of these young artists to represent the best of their Country and traditions. The exhibition is presented in association with Barkly Regional Arts and is on display at Japingka until 20 August 2024.