Aboriginal art exhibitions are on display at Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, 47 High Street, Fremantle - Mon-Fri 10am-5.00pm and Sat & Sun 12-5pm. There is no entrance fee to view the exhibitions.
Online art exhibition links are accessible below for those not able to attend the gallery. Advance viewing and purchasing of exhibition works is available to subscribers of the Japingka Newsletter.
Bush Garden – Artists of Ampilatwatja
19 July – 20 August 2019
Welcome to the beautiful observations of Country as the artists of Ampilatwatja show you their homelands, with all the bush medicine plants and types of native flora found there. The artists of this small community north-east from Alice Springs have developed their own style to represent country and all the resources that exist there.
Spirit of Place – Amanda Westley & Kudditji Kngwarreye
5 Apr – 28 May 2019
Spirit of Place, paintings by Amanda Westley and Kudditji Kngwarreye, show the distinctive qualities of their respective homelands using colour and composition to evoke Country. Amanda reveals the south coast on Fleurieu Peninsula while Kudditji captures the moods of the Central Desert.
Numina Quartet
5 Apr – 28 May 2019
Four sisters from the large Numina family continue to document and paint traditional stories from their family homelands in Central Australia. The sisters Lanita, Caroline, Selina and Sharon are Anmatyerre speakers who grew up on Stirling Station between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
Landscape Colours
8 Feb – 24 March 2019
Indigenous artists represent their Country in the assorted colours of memory and season, here they have pooled their collective output to present a rich and diverse view of their Homelands.
Pintupi Artists of the Western Desert
8 Feb – 24 March 2019
Pintupi artists have had a profound influence on the development of the Western Desert art movement since it emerged at Papunya in 1971. Contributing artists for this exhibition include George Hairbrush Tjungurrayi, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Warlimpirnnga Tjapaltjarri and his brothers Walala and Thomas Tjapaltjarri, George Ward Tjungurrayi and Jake Tjapaltjarri.
Andrea Adamson Tiger – Seven Sisters Dreaming
16 Nov – 22 Dec 2018
Andrea Adamson Tiger is a Pitjantjatjara artist, born at Amata community on the APY Lands in 1973. Andrea paints stories associated with the Seven Sisters songline, an extensive Dreaming track that crosses her country. Her family includes artists Rini Tiger and her grandfather Tiger Palpatja.
Small is Beautiful
Through January 2019
Small is Beautiful brings together small-scale affordable artworks by Aboriginal artists and communities. Works represented include artists Tarisse King, Gracie Morton, Walala Tjapaltjarri, Jeannie Mills as well as communities at Ampilatwatja in Central Australia and Buku Larrnggay Mulka at Yirrkala in far north-east tip of Northern Territory.
Ghost Net Baskets & Bush Dyed Textiles – Groote Eylandt
16 Nov – 22 Dec 2018
Anindilyakwa Artists from c transform ghost nets into woven baskets, changing environmental threats into traditional art forms. The women use plants and dyes found in the bush to dye fabrics which become clothing, scarves and home accessories.
Painting on Country – Utopia Artists
21 September – 6 November 2018
Utopia artists have asserted their artistic and cultural credentials since the 1980s when the elaborate stories and ceremonies of Alyawarr and Anmatyerre language groups were first painted on canvas. The use of finely dotted designs and detailed stories have bought Utopia artists into prominence in the Aboriginal art world.
Ikuntji Artists – Irrimatitja
21 September – 6 November 2018
Ikuntji Artists group has worked in the community at Haasts Bluff for over 25 years, producing artworks of Ngurra and Tjukurrpa, the Country and Dreamings of the many language groups that live in the community.
Tjanpi Desert Weavers
25 May– 11 July 2018
Tjanpi Desert Weavers present fibre sculptures from NPY Lands, with over 400 Aboriginal women artists from 26 remote desert communities creating whimsical and authentic images of desert life. Artworks are described as contemporary culture celebrating creativity and life on traditional Country.
Fiona Omeenyo & Rosella Namok
20 July – 29 Aug 2018
Contemporary Indigenous art finds strong expression in the works of Fiona Omeenyo and Rosella Namok. The artists from Lockhart River community on Cape York in Northern Queensland, Paint the stories, people and landscape and of their coastal homelands.
Edward Blitner – Freshwater Billabongs
20 July – 29 Aug 2018
Edward Blitner believes that maintaining the ancient crafts of his forefathers is an important role for artists to take on. The traditions of Arnhem land art are embedded in the rich rock art galleries of the sandstone country, where artists have been overlaying their images for thousands of years.
Omie Barkcloth Art – Papua New Guinea
25 May– 11 July 2018
Omie Artists from Oro Province in Papua New Guinea produce traditional textiles called barkcloth which are decorated and painted with family and tribal designs. These barkcloths are used during important ceremonies and remain part of everyday life in the villages.
Land and Sky – Warlpiri Artists
25 May– 11 July 2018
Generations of Warlpiri artists have carried on the traditions of their culture and the preservation of Jukurrpa – now new artists at the community of Yuendumu are coming forward to take their place in culture and Law. Paintings are grounded in the Jukurrpa or Dreaming Law of the Country, and this knowledge is passed down through traditional practices.
Artists of Ampilatwatja – Welcome to Paradise
23 March – 16 May 2018
Paintings and silk scarves from the distinctive studio of Ampilatwatja artists in Central Australia. The community is located 320 kms to the north of Alice Springs. The paintings reveal the natural world and landscape of ancestral country with the bush foods and medicines found there.
Warakurna Artists – Welcome to Paradise
23 March – 16 May 2018
Warakurna community is located along the Rawlinson Ranges on Ngaanyatjarra lands in Western Australia. It grew in the 1970s when people from Docker River moved closer to their traditional lands, and in 2005 when Native Title was granted to the traditional owners over Ngaanyatjarra lands. Warakurna art centre opened in 2005, giving expression to local stories and customs.
Amanda Westley
9 Feb – 14 Mar 2018
Talking Land Lines, talking colour – the paintings of Amanda Conway-Jones (Westley) reflect on the importance of Country to indigenous Australians. The colours represent the two aspects of life on the coast, with the warm colours of the land and the cool colours of the sea.
Blue – Aboriginal Paintings
9 Feb – 14 Mar 2018
Sometimes used to signify water and aspects of the ether – wind, smoke, clouds, night skies – blue becomes a more familiar colour in the work of these Aboriginal artists.
Christmas Collection 2017
1 Dec 2017 - 31 Jan 2018
Paintings by Aboriginal artists have brought us joy & surprise in 2017 – we hope you will find this selection full of new and inspiring things. Japingka