This set of three works from Mangkaja Arts is part of the current group exhibition Game, Set, Match, consisting of seven individual series of artworks by various artists - on view now at our Redfern galleries.
“The works on Perspex came about by chance, when in 2016 some Perspex sheets were left in the Mangkaja studio at Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The sheets had been used to protect a wall mural from the elements. When artist Sonia Kurarra discovered them, she decided to paint a large work on one of the sheets and so it began.”
- excerpt of Bold Thinking that Breaks the Mould, published in the AFR Online, Feb 29, 2020
TOMMY MAY NGARRALJA
KURTAL, 2018
60 x 60 cm
acrylic on perspex$4,500
Tommy May is a Wangkajunga and Walmajarri man who was born at Yarrnkurnja on the Canning Stock Route in the Great Sandy Desert. He dances and sings Kurtal, a ceremony relating to the main jila [permanent waterhole] in his country.
According to the artist, ‘This is a story about Dreamtime people before Canning. Before whitefella come with a camel, Dreamtime people were there. These two blokes, Kurtal and Kaningarra, they been looking after the two waterholes, cleaning all the time.’
The works are of ancient and important stories of Country that challenge the perceptions of what Aboriginal art "should" look like.
LISA UHL
KURRKAPI, 2018
60 x 60 cm
acrylic on perspex
$2,900
As a young woman, Lisa Uhl did not have the authority to paint major Dreaming stories. Instead, she restricted herself to the secular subject matter of trees. in particular, the turtutjarti (walnut trees) and kurrkapi (desert oaks) of Wangkajungka country on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. The Desert Oak provides shade in the desert and the nectar of the flowers is sweet and edible.
Every piece is made by layering acrylic colours on to the Perspex with the bold mark-making for which Mangkaja artists are renowned.
NOLA ROGERS
GOGO STATION, 2021
60 x 60 cm
acrylic on perspex$1,500
This is about Gogo station on the old road. When I was young we were living there. We used to collect the coloured rocks from the hills, all different colours. Our mothers too and parents collected stones. We would gift it to our teachers and people as a gift from our country.
