Adrian was born at Papunya in 1962. He went to school in Papunya and remembers Geoff Bardon as a school teacher and working alongside the early Western Desert painters. Adrian's fathers' country travels from west of Walungurru through Karku at Nyirrpi to Warlurkurlangu at Yuendumu. His father, Jampitjinpa, lived at Mount Doreen close to Yuendumu and later worked at Papunya as a Gardener and Builder. Jampitjinpa is a brother to the late Darby Ross Jampitjinpa, sharing the same mother and father. Adrian's mother is the late Eunice Napangardi, a well known painter herself. It is her country, Yalpirakinu, that Adrian paints.

Adrian joined The Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists in 2002. He is a landscape painter and uses a predominantly restricted palette. His paintings consistently refer to the desert mountains, ridges and trees which are part of Yalpirakinu. His brushwork is loaded with energy, drama and memories. He is a deliberate and thoughtful painter; reworking, pushing and pulling the image to completion.
‍

AWARDS

2022 Winner - 2022 42nd Alice Prize - Araluen, Alice Springs
2021 Winner - Artist of the Year - 2021 Mparntwe NAIDOC
2021 Finalist - 2021 Vincent Lingiari Art Award - Ngawa, Ngapa, Kapi, Kwatja, Water
2021 Finalist - 2021 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)
2020 Winner - General Painting Award - 2020 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)
2018 Finalist - 2018 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)
2004 Finalist - 2004 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)

‍

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 NGAJU NYANGU WARLALJA, NGAJU NYANGU NGURRA (MY FAMILY, MY COUNTRY) - Redot Gallery - Singapore
2021 Yalpirakinu, Mothers Country - RAFT Artspace - Alice Springs, NT
2018 Paint Country - RAFT Artspace - Alice Springs, NT
2010 RAFT Artspace - Alice Springs, NT

Mudburra artist Arthur (Jalyirri) Dixon (b. 1994) grew up in the remote Northern Territory community of Marlinja, near Elliott, around 700 km from both Alice Springs and Darwin. He grew up in a creative family, using music for storytelling and a vehicle for keeping Mudburra, one of the world’s oldest languages, alive. Both his father Ray Dimakarri Dixon and sister Eleanor Dixon are accomplished singer/songwriters.

Arthur employs gestural mark-making in evocative abstract paintings which are both large and small-scale. He generally paints off-stretcher and his work features both subtle tonal shifts and contrasting pigments, some areas of canvas left raw.

Arthur uses the Mudburra word ngurramarla to describe his work, a term which refers to ancestral connection and the channeling of creativity through this connection. It’s a term which reflects the heightened state of Arthur’s expressive act of painting and, in turn, his underlying inspiration to connect with and care for Country. Arthur’s paintings are mostly untitled and highly intuitive rather than literal in their expression of ngurramarla. Ngurramarla was the title given to his first two paintings to be publicly exhibited, as part of the 2023 DesertMob exhibition in Alice Springs – an indication of his emerging status and remarkable freedom and confidence as a painter.

Candy Nelson Nakamarra was born in Yuendumu in 1964, daughter to renowned Papunya Tula artist Johnny Warangkula, who taught his children how to paint whilst passing down family stories. They all paint the Kalipinypa Water Dreaming story, of the rain and hail making ceremony, which Candy continues to explore and reinvent.

Candy has a distinct, evolving style, employing bold contrasting colours and layering of drips, drawing and outlining to create sophisticated, sought after contemporary works, which she says “look as if they are breathing, with the drawing elements popping out of the canvas’”. Candy represents tali (sandhills) and running water in her backgrounds, and uses dotting to represent hail storms and rain. Through drawing shapes and motifs, she represents the waterholes, running water, bush tucker, water birds and flowers present after a big storm and the wanampi (water snake) which lives under the waterhole.

Candy is fast becoming a highly sought after contemporary artist. Candy had her first solo show in Sydney in 2021, a three person show in Brisbane in 2022, and had her second solo show in 2023 at Vivien Anderson Gallery in Melbourne. Winner of the Interrelate Acquisitive Prize as part of the Wollotuka Acquisitive Art Prize (2012), her work is held in the Macquarie Bank Collection, Parliament House Canberra Collection, the Hassall Collection, Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Switzerland and The University of New South Wales Galleries, Sydney.

Carbiene McDonald was born in Papunya in 1961, son of Snowy McDonald. As a young man, Carbiene travelled back to his father's homelands and inherited his Tjukurrpa (Dreaming). This Tjukurrpa is associated with a series of waterholes running between Docker River and Kata Tjuta. Specifically, it includes four important sites: Petermann Ranges, Docker River, Kalaya Murrpu (Blood's Range) and Mulyayti near Kata Tjuta.

Carbiene’s work embodies the quality of innovation steeped within tradition, and his practice of filling the canvas with coloured squares of loose acrylic paint creates work of immense depth and sophistication. Having only taken up painting later in life, in 2018, his passion for painting coupled with his extreme dedication and enthusiasm has led him to quickly make a name for himself.

Winner of the prestigious Hadley’s Art Prize (2019), a finalist in the Vincent Lingiari Art Award (2019), and the Telstra NATSIAA (2023), his work is held in the Art Gallery of NSW Collection, Charles Darwin University Collection and in significant private collections in Australia.

Doris Bush was born in Haasts Bluff/Ikuntji circa 1942 and was married to the late George Bush Tjangala, one of Papunya Tula Artists’ original shareholders. In the mid 1980’s the family went to live on an outstation at Nyunmanu in Doris’ mother’s country out towards the WA/NT border. Doris continues to paint Nyunmanu and the traditional Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) of this place, Dingo Dreaming.

Doris also paints vivid memories, stories and dreams from her life, with her work often telling happy stories from her early days in Ikuntji; eating, hunting and swimming with her friends and family in the bush. Doris’ works embody her nature of a true storyteller with her expressive style, bold use of colour and recognisable motifs. Doris is renowned as one of the most prolific and enthusiastic artists in the community and is usually the first to arrive each morning when - or even before - the doors open.

Finalist in the Wynne Prize at the AGNSW (2023), TELSTRA National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (2020, 2021, 2022), Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (2019) and shortlisted in the Alice Art Prize (2018), her work is held in the Artbank Collection, Macquarie Bank Collection, University of Western Sydney Collection, The Hassall Collection, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, and private collections internationally. Doris was the winner of the 2023 Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Eleanor Jawurlngali is a Mudburra and Garrawa woman from Marlinja in the Northern Territory, a small community almost exactly halfway between Alice Springs and Darwin. She is primarily a singer, known for her ethereal vocals through songs in Aboriginal languages and English which blend traditional and contemporary influences. A member of the critically acclaimed Kardajala Kirridarra, an all-female band comprising musicians from Marlinja and Kulumindini (Elliot), and of the father/daughter duo Rayella, Eleanor also collaborates with celebrated guitarist Mick Turner (Dirty Three) and cellist Stephanie Arnold. 

Visual arts is a new field of creative expression for Eleanor, though she draws on a strong artistic tradition (particularly through painting) from her grandmother. Having worked with the Tennant Creek Brio artists in various capacities previously, Eleanor had an impressive exhibition debut, showing alongside Brio artists at Cassandra Bird Gallery, Sydney in March 2024. Her latest work builds on this momentum, offering an experimental approach and originality that, as with her music, packs a potent blend of traditional and contemporary insights. 

Flora was born in and grew up in Yuendumu. She married Dicky Brown in 1975 and had 4 children. Flora left Yuendumu in 1993 and came to Papunya where she painted for Warumpi Arts for almost 10 years. Flora learnt to paint from her Mother Minnie Napanangka who painted at Balgo. Flora lives with her son Matthew Brown and his wife Makisha Anderson at Three Mile Outstation near Papunya and looks after her grand daughter Imogen. Flora's paintings are highly sought after for their delicate dotting and simple yet fine compositions.

Joseph Williams Jungurayi is a founding member of the Tennant Creek Brio. He is a multimedia artist, carver, writer, poet and emerging cultural leader of the Warumungu community. Williams began his carving as a teenager during the mid 1990s, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Nat Jupurula Williams and being taught by his second grandfather Walter Pula Nelson. “They made them the hard way”, says Williams, with an axe and wood rasp, whereas Williams now utilises a range of modern tools on mostly hardwood to create various reinvented traditional objects including spears, shields, and boomerangs. His work includes paintings and a contemporary perpetuation of traditional objects including kayin (boomerangs), wartikirri (number 7 boomerang), clapping sticks and purnu (coolamons) fashioned from hardwood. He has recently begun experimenting with figurative realism, drawing inspiration from his Warumungu and Croatian heritage. Amongst other forays he co-directed (with Peter Pecotić) the film Countryman 2021, broaching his Croatian heritage and opened various exhibitions and launches with his singing and poetry performances.

Currently working for Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre he is also on the board of Desart, the peak arts body for Central Australian Aboriginal Arts and Crafts centres. Joseph believes in the value and success of the Brio as a role model for the younger generation. One of the last 20 or so remaining Warumungu speakers in Tennant Creek, he has worked as a translator (and natural spokesperson) for numerous publications and documents relating to the Brio and is a director for Papulu Appar-Kari Language and Cultural Centre.

Williams’ work has most recently been exhibited at his first solo show at Coconut Studios (Darwin) this year. As a member of the Tennant Creek Brio his work has also been exhibited in group shows, including: ACCA (2024), Biennale of Sydney (2020), Cassandra Bird Gallery (2024), Niagra Galleries (2023), cbOne (2022), RAFT Artspace (2023 & 2021), Modern Times Melbourne Design Week (2022), Croatia House (2020), Vincent Lingiari Art Award (2021).

Karen was born in Papunya in 1970, and grew up at Blackwater Outstation, about 5km outside of Papunya. She is the younger sister of renown Papunya Tjupi painter, Carbiene McDonald. Karen attended school in Papunya, and later Yirara College in Alice Springs.

Karen paints her grandmothers story, Kungka Tjukurrpa at Ilpilli. At Ilpilli, Karen's ancestors - the Napurrula women - found waterholes, creeks, and an abundance of food. It became a significant site for them, and they remained there for a long time.

Karen is a skilled translator and linguist. She worked at Papunya school as an assistant teacher for many years. Her work has incorporated poems, text and images. She continues to experiment with new materials and grow her practice in exciting directions. Her work was exhibited at the Desert Mob exhibition at Araluen arts centre in 2021. Karen continues to live at Blackwater outstation where she grew up, and now works at the Art Centre.

Katjarra was born quite close to Kulkurta and Purrungu at a place called Kuun. Kuun is the name of the waterhole there. Kuun is also the name of the yellow ochre. There is also a place very close to Kuun that Katjarra refers to as her home and is one of her Tjukurrpaor (dreaming) which she paints. It is called Kuurmankutja. This place is home to the two Kuniya (python) dreaming. The other dreaming that she paints is Marrapirnti. Her father was Lilyiwara Tjungurrayi and her mother was Mangkatji Nangala. Katjarra had an older sister Nguya Napaltjarri and younger brother Peter Tjanpaltjarri, now both deceased.Katjarra lived with her parents, siblings and immediate family in the bush as a child, teenager and young married woman. She lived with her family and later with her husband in the country to the west of Tjukurla in the Kulkurta area which is south of the Baron Range in Western Australia.Katjarra lived a traditional nomadic lifestyle only, travelling families within their family's country and lived off the animals that they hunted and bush food that they collected. They collected and drank water from the rockholes, soakages, springs and claypans (waterholes). All the travelling was done on foot.Katjarra has been painting since the 1990s, and began after the passing of her husband, Papunya Tula founder Anatjari Tjakamarra. She has been celebrated with many awards nominations, including winning the major award for the Wyndham Prize in 2016, and has also exhibited in both Australia and overseas in both group and solo shows.Her powerful works are a commanding presence in any space, and her love of painting is evident in her prodigious output. She uses huge round brushes to apply broad swathes of paint, rhythmically marking out waterholes with her whole body weight propelling the brush.She then builds up the other landscape features, like puli (rocks) tali (sandhills) and vast grasslands. Katjarra’s spirit is embodied in the power of her brushstrokes, the broad fields of colour engulfing the spectator and offering a momentary glimpse of Katjarra’s knowledge of the power and enormity of her tjukurrpa.

Born in 1990, Marcus Camphoo Kemarre, aka, ‘Double O’, is a Kaytetyeand Alywarr man living between Ali Curung and Tennant Creek. He paints at both Arlpwe Art and Culture centre in Ali Curung, and at in Tennant Creek at Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre as the youngest member of the men's collective, The Tennant Creek Brio. Known as 00 (“double-o”) he has developed a distinctive minimalism of formal structural grids that resonate with early Western desert practices of body markings. These grids and bands, often rendered with loose and textural qualities evoke the iconography of the Western Desert and the structural frames of painting.

He has had multiple showings, including 20^th Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN, RAFT Artspace, Desert Mob, The Salon De Refuse 2020, and at the 2022 NGV Design Week at Modern Times. His works have been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria, Araluen Arts Centre, as well as several private collections.

Roy was born c.1933 in the bush near present day Kaltukatjara (Docker River). Roy grew up in the Kaltukatjara area with his family, and remembers this as a time of plenty when the abundance of bush food and fresh water sustained many Anangu. In around 1942, he andhis family walked for days across a vast salt lake to the Areyonga Mission. Roy went to school at the Mission, but as a young manreturned to his home country. He married his first wife and they had several children together; when she passed away, he remarried with renowned ngangkari Pantjiti McKenzie AO. He now lives in Kaltukatjara (Docker River) community with many generations of his family. Roy has been painting and carving punu (wooden artefacts) for decades. Pastor Roy has a strong love for his country, underpinned by his deep spiritual knowledge. Roy is also an ordained Christian minister, and continues to be a spiritual guide and leader for his community. With his paintings, Pastor Roy offers viewers visions of his country as he saw it as a young man: beautiful, bountiful, lively, and full of joy.

Patricia comes from an important painting family. She is the daughter of the artist Long Jack Phillipus and the younger sister of the artist Charlotte Phillipus Napurrula. She was born at Papunya and has remained living there all her life. She attended school at Papunya and Yirara College in Alice Springs. Patricia said she started watching her father paint before she tried it herself. Her mother's country is Katjutarri Ngamana Yawalurra while her father's dreaming is Kalipinypa - water dreaming.

After a long break from painting in order to care for her husband, Patricia returned in 2017 and is proving herself to be a strong emerging talent. Patricia is a first time director of Papunya Tjupi this year, and also works at the art centre.

Simon Hogan was born circa 1930 in mid-western Spinifex between Paltju and Lingka. Simon’s exact age is unknown as dates of birth were estimated by the A.E.M. missionaries when the Spinifex people, on arrival at Cundeelee, were “sorted” into family groups, given English names and approximate dates of birth. During childhood two fathers, one born at Warakunu and the other at Munki raised Simon. Simon’s mother’s country is around Tjulya.

The Spinifex people were a relatively discreet southern Pitjantjatjara tribal group with ties to the north and east that lived a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life until the late 1950’s to early 1960s when most people either walked into Ooldea and Cundeelee or were taken by AEM missionaries to Cundeelee Mission. As a late teenager or nyiingka living in seclusion from Aboriginal society prior to initiation into manhood, Simon and an older brother made an epic journey from the Spinifex lands to a Christian Mission at Mt. Margaret. He travelled there via the frontier mining towns of Laverton and Leonora. The older brother chose to stay at Mt. Margaret and Simon returned to the Great Victoria Desert and initiate into manhood.

Sometime after initiation Simon travelled across the Serpentine Lakes into South Australia to find a wife. He married Inyika and they had two of their seven children in country before going to Cundeelee Mission around 1960. A second wife, Ngantiri, also traveled in with Simon’s family group.

From 1995 Simon Hogan was a prominent member of a group of senior traditional owners from Spinifex country who lobbied the WA State Government for Native Title. Although Simon spoke no English he was a confident, initiated Pitjantjatjara man who spoke to senior government officials regarding ownership of country and culture. Exclusive Native Title rights were granted to Simon Hogan and the Spinifex people in 2000 of over 55 000 sq kms of the Great Victoria Desert in WA. In 1997 the Spinifex people began painting with acrylic paints on canvas, painting traditional stories using this contemporary medium. Simon again took a leading working with intense concentration and focus to translate Tjukurpa (stories or mythologies) into public artworks. The Spinifex people also produced collaborative works two of which, men’s’ and women’s’, were used in the preamble to the successful Spinifex Native Title claim.

Simon is an effusive individual who introduces himself as “Mr. Hogan” and will happily recount his many exhibition travels throughout Australia and the world. For over a decade he carried a photo of himself and Gough Whitlam in his wallet until the photo eventually disintegrated. The photo was taken during the 1998 Pila Nguru Native Title touring exhibition. The Whitlams were invited to open the exhibition in Canberra. In 2009 Simon travelled to Linz, Austria to be an Artist in Residence during the 2009, Linz Cultural Capital of Europe Exposition. He is a tireless ambassador for Spinifex custom and culture. In 2015 well into his 80’s he travelled to London representing the Spinifex people at an exhibition at the British Museum, where he met with HRH Prince Charles.

Over the years Simon Hogan’s enthusiasm and focus for painting on linen has not diminished. His status as a painter in his own community and on a national and international level has steadily increased over these years making him one of the most sought-after Spinifex artists. His works feature in many public and private collections.

Simon Hogan is a finalist in the prestigious Western Australian Indigenous Art Award

‍