Exhibitions

“When Maisie Petyarre Bundey settles down to paint each morning, regardless of the dogs, donkeys, heat or art center chat, nothing alters her deep concentration. Borne from traditional knowledge, Maisie paints with a confidence and urgency like no other, her subject matter drawn from acute observation and memory.  Maisie’s painting style is linked to her foundational experience in making batik, and the loose fluid liberation that this technique allows.  Once completed, the painting is pushed aside and never acknowledged by the artist, her sights quickly fix on the cup of tea and oranges that await her.”

Doris’s way contemplates memory, relationships, real experience, a sincerity for their culture and from there what manifests seems to be an infinite story. Within the artists fixation towards Nyumanu she has invented a pictorial language so confident and sophisticated it functions like gospel.  This series is a romance, an introduction to a limitless body of work, a worship of connection, place, family and Papa Tjukurrpa.

Nancy Nyanyarna Jackson was born at Kirritji. A place near Patjarr in the Gibson Desert, on her father’s traditional land. Her practice is grounded in intimate knowledge of place. Often returning to Patjarr and the surrounding lands, now recognised as the Pila Nature Reserve, to paint, hunt and visit sites of cultural significance. 

Nyinnga: Winter in the Spinifex presents a survey of work produced by artists of the Spinifex Arts Project.

This year brought a severe summer to the Great Victoria Desert—48 degrees in the shade, air conditioners failing, and battery systems overheating. But the Spinifex Arts Project toiled on. Born in the bush, this art movement has never relied on such luxuries. Roll out the canvas and keep on trucking, the artists insisted.

“I go back with my spirit and see the land before man”

Billy Benn (1943-2012), was an Alyawarr man born in Harts Range, around 200km northeast of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). His art is steeped in deep personal, cultural, and geological histories sharing landscapes that defy simple categorisation, a textured resistance to the boxes into which contemporary Indigenous art is so often placed.

In a world that relentlessly rushes forward we must remember to pause, reset and reconnect through the fundamental act of breathing—our most vital link to culture, wellbeing, and the sacred space within and around us. This exhibition explores the profound significance to breathe as a pathway to mindfulness, and a sanctuary for learning to slow down amidst the chaos.

If a connoisseur of printmaking walked into this exhibition they might be disappointed with the apparent roughness of the printed images presented here. If this were to be the case, they would certainly be missing the point, and the power, that imbues these artworks.

For Nola Yurnangurnu Campbell, Nyungawarra Ward Napurrula and Nancy Nyanyarna Jackson, Patjarr, and the surrounding country forms part of their traditional homeland. Patjarr, the smallest community in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, is perhaps the most remote place in Australia. This isolation is turned on its head by these artists, whose mere presence and dedication to living as close as possible to their ancestral land made this tiny outpost of the Kayili Artists art centre possible. 

Kunmanara (Harry) Tjutjuna was born in the bush around 1930 at Walyjatjara, north of Pipalyatjara, remote South Australia, in the Anangu, Pitjantjatjara, Yankuntjatjarra Lands (APY). He was a senior Lawman and Ngangkari (traditional healer).  As a Ngangkari he had the ability to see spirits and use powers of ‘Wati Wanka’ to heal people. Tjukurrpa is a living real thing in his paintings ... it is the power informing the work.   

“I started painting portraits because I’m interested in people, and power, wealth and politics. For me, portraiture is a way of putting myself in someone else’s shoes as well as to share with the viewer what it might be like to be in my shoes. I use portraiture to look at my identity and my family history. It’s also a way for me to look at the history of this country, to ask who has the power, and why?”

Martin Hagan’s work is born from the ceremonial ground.

Like the men who came before him, Martin nurtures local religious and cultural knowledges, not only through the continuation of ceremonial Law but with a careful crafting of new intercultural forms of expression and creative inquiry.

This exhibition, Awely-Awely,Kwaty, Ilpay Ilkwa, (Lightning,Water, Big River), showcases the work of two remarkable artists, Topsy Kemarre Beasley, and her younger sister Rita Kemarr Beasley. 

In Sitting here, thinking there, Adrian Jangala Robertson paints memories of family and his mother’s Country, Yalpirakinu.

Locals know the story… see the Todd River flow three times, and you will be here forever.

8 Hele & cbOne are excited to present at Melbourne Art Fair 20-23 Feb

Marcus 'Double O' Camphoo Kemarre & Joseph Williams Jungarayi