Past Exhibitions

Martumili Artists at Japingka Gallery

The art centre is based in Newman in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia. Martu artists express their traditional ties to country and the kinship groups who continue to pass down cultural knowledge embedded in the lands that their ancestors have inhabited. Eighteen artists have contributed to this exhibition including Nancy Nyanjilpayi Chapman, Yikartu Bumba, Lorna Linmurra, Elizabeth Toby and May Mayiwalku Chapman. The exhibition is presented in association with Martumili Artists.

Japingka Aboriginal Art, Fremantle WA

23rd February - 4th of April

To view artwork click here

HOW TO SWIM

‘HOW TO SWIM’ CURATED BY SALLY ANDERSON FEATURING LYDIA BALBAL, KIRSTY BUDGE, ELEANOR LOUISE BUTT, MARK MAURANGI CARROL, JEDDA-DAISY CULLEY, JAMES DRINKWATER, ADRIENNE GAHA, BRIDIE GILLMAN, SIMONE GRIFFIN, RHYS LEE, EYTAN MESSIAH, SALLY M NANGALA MULDA, PIA MURPHY, MIRANDA SKOCZEK, JOHN SMITH, KEN WHISSON, BUGAI WHYOULTER, SALLY ANDERSON

How to Swim borrows its title from a chapter in Emily Ogden’s recent book, written while her children were small: On Not Knowing: How to Love and Other Essays, a suite of personal essays on the value of not knowing and the significance of embracing uncertainty. Other chapters are titled things like ‘how to turn a corner’, ‘how to hold it together’, ‘how to milk’ and ‘how to stay’. I was introduced to this text by a friend based in the UK who mentioned reading it on the train home from Scotland or Wales. This premise of ‘unknowingness’ resonated with me and reminded me of the way I approach painting (and parenting). Through processes of unlearning (or unknowing), we’re able to relinquish total control and dodge conditioning to make way for new processes, perspectives, and notions.

How to Swim comprises 18 Australian artists spanning various career stages and working predominantly in the field of painting. Their work draws on diverse references: the land, fishing, art historical imagery and objects, domesticity, overheard conversations, and intimate personal narratives. Their work somewhat defies traditional painting categorisation and inhabits multiple genres at one time, thus existing in a kind of liminal or ‘non-space’ – swimming in and between abstraction and representation, landscape, figuration, and still life. I suspect a fundamental part of the exhibiting artists’ practices is surrendering to process and embracing this premise of ‘unknowingness’, a state that Ogden suggests precedes knowledge or shifts in articulating it.

Sally Anderson 2023

Edwina Corlette, New Farm QLD 

28 Feb – 19 Mar 2024

View catalogue here

Outsider Art Fair New York

Amanda White, Anya Judith Samson, Ngamaru Bidu, Isaac Cheryl 

Born in Midland in 1978, Amanda (Mandy) White is an award-winning Aboriginal artist of Yamatji heritage. She was raised in Guildford, Western Australia and continues to live in the Perth foothills. Mandy’s art career began in her 30’s when she started attending art classes at DADAA Midland. Over the subsequent decade Mandy has become a passionate, award- winning artist and a strong role model for artists with disability.

Ngamaru was born at Martilirri in 1949 (Well 22 on the Canning Stock Route), the eldest of four siblings. Her mother came from the area around Wikirri and her father from Pitu. As a child Ngamaru lived a traditional lifestyle, and walked around with her family, moving from water source to water source dependent on the seasonal rain cycles. She paints and works with Martumili Artists in the Pilbara Region of WA.

Judith is the granddaughter of Dadda Samson (dec.) and Yanjimi (Peter) Rowlands (dec.), both of whom were highly regarded Martumili artists. She was born in Port Hedland and has lived most of her life in Jigalong.

Isaac Cherel was a Gooniyandi Man, from the Fitzroy Valley river country. Isaac grew up on Old Station in Fossil Downs where his parents lived and worked in the Gooniyandi language group country along the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers of the Kimberley. He worked and painted with Mangkaja Arts in the Kimberley Region of WA.

Outsider Art Fair, New York

29 Feb- March 3 2024

View works here

THE MATERIAL ART FAIR- Mexico City

Bugai Whyoulter, Tarnanthi

Tarnanthi at AGSA showcases the latest works of contemporary art from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists across the continent.

Included in this years exhibition is work from the desert homelands that have inspired Bugai Whyoulter’s sublime depictions of seasonal changes around Wantili,

Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia

20 Oct 2023 – 21 Jan 2024

For more on Tarnanthi click here

NGAYUKU KAPARLI-KURNU NGURRA – KULYAKARTU (MY GRANDMOTHER’S COUNTRY – KALYAKARTU)

Both artists were born on the WA coast - Derrick in Derby, Wilson in Broome - but both have discovered a deep connection to Kulyakartu in the Great Central Desert, the ancestral home of their grandmothers.

When he was a teenager, Derrick asked his grandmother ”Where is your Country? I want to know your Country”. She told him “Go to the desert, go to Parngurr (Kulyakartu) and you’ll see my brothers and sisters”. Derrick discovered not only his legendary artist relatives, Muuki, Nola and Mr Taylor, but also an immediate and profound connection to Country. “Painting my country strengthens that connection – knowing that I belong to that place. It’s a tribute to my grandmother”.

Wilson Mandijalu had never painted before visiting his grandmother’s Country after his people were granted native title. “It felt like home when I got there. I didn’t want to leave that place. All the grandparents, old people were painting. I would sit down and watch them paint. I was thinking that I could do painting like them”.

Both artists depict the same revered and complex Country; its salt lakes, waterholes, shimmering undulations and dry, cracked claypans. Each paints it with his own unique style and palette, their works coming together in an elegantly curated show that is an authentic insight into First Nations peoples’ relationship with their land.

Aboriginal Contemporary, Waverley, NSW

Exhibition opens Saturday 18 November 

View and Shop Exhibition here

SONGLINES – PEINTURES ABORIGÈNES DU DÉSERT AUSTRALIEN

A sequel to Le Chant Aborigène des Sept Sœurs (The Seven Sisters Story), this exhibition continues to explore the incredible wealth of interpretations and visual expressions around the important Aboriginal creation myth of the Seven Sisters that runs across the Australian continent.

Songlines – Peintures Aborigènes du Désert Australien (Aboriginal Paintings from the Australian Desert) follows a series of Songlines exhibitions held in Paris in 2023, based on the Seven Sisters Story celebrated in the international touring exhibition conceived by the National Museum of Australia, Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters.

Considering the success of the first exhibition presented in April – July 2023 Le Chant Aborigène des Sept Sœurs (The Seven Sisters Story), and the importance of this creation myth, this second exhibition continues to explore the incredible wealth of interpretations and visual expressions of this story that follows the trail of Seven Ancestral Sisters, whose adventures, sung, danced and drawn over thousands of years, contribute to explain the formation of the world and of Aboriginal tribal laws, from the central desert to the Pilbara region on the west coast of Australia, crossing three Australian states.

Through a new selection of works from Aboriginal artist cooperatives located along the Seven Sisters Trail, the exhibition bears witness to the dynamism of these artistic communities and reveals new treasures.

Staged in the magnificent, atypical exhibition space at the heart of the Passage du Grand Cerf, the works are available for sale to generate income for the artists and cooperatives, and to help support the ethical and sustainable Australian Aboriginal art sector.

Organised by social enterprise IDAIA in collaboration with Aboriginal artist cooperatives, in partnership with New Angles – Five Seeds and with the support of the Embassy of Australia to France.

Passage du Grand Cerf, Paris, France
12 October – 23 December 2023

For more information click here

Martumili XMAS Sale

Martumili Artists' famous Christmas Sale will begin on the 24th of November and run through to the 17th of December.

We are doing things a little different this time around - festivities kick off with our annual Christmas party on Friday night 24/11 in Newman (where all works will be available for sale from our gallery), followed by all works going live the next morning at 10am (25/11) on our online store.

All artworks will be discounted by 40%, so if you've had your eyes on an artwork this year, make sure you're ready to jump online or swing by the Newman gallery.  We can't wait to see you!

Martumili Artists Gallery, Newman, WA

24th November - 17th December

Represent | Part 1, Aboriginal Figurative Practice in Western Australia

Co-developed by respected Whadjuk Noongar artist and elder Sharyn Egan and presented in collaboration with Bunbury Regional Art Gallery's Noongar Arts Program, Martumili Artists, Mowanjum Arts, FORM's Spinifex Hill Studio, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Warakurna Artists, Yinjaa Barni Art, significant independent artists and collectors, REPRESENT is the first in a two-part exhibition series surveying figurative practice by Western Australian Aboriginal artists. Part 1 celebrates the senior artists and iconic movements in Western Australian Aboriginal representational art-making, while Part 2 in early 2024 will highlight the new generation of artists reinterpreting it through a contemporary lens.

REPRESENT features masterful paintings and sculptures exploring culture, heritage, connection to land, spirituality, history and the everyday.

FORM Gallery, Claremont, WA

27 Oct - 16 Dec

View Catalogue here

Dancing For Our Country

MY PAINTING SHOWS NYAYARTAKUJARRA (LAKE DORA) AND THE WATERHOLES. IN PUJIMAN (TRADITIONAL, DESERT DWELLING) DAYS WE ALL WALKED FROM WATERHOLE TO WATERHOLE. WE WERE TRAVELLING AROUND FOR A LONG TIME, WE WERE ALL  NAKED! WE GREW UP WALKING ALL AROUND THESE WATERHOLES. ALL OF THESE WATERHOLES ARE STILL HERE, WITH ALL OF THE SONGS AND ALL OF THE DANCES. WE ARE STILL SINGING AND DANCING FOR OUR COUNTRY.’

MAY MAYIWALKU (MAY WOKKA) CHAPMAN

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME OUT MARTU FRIENDS BACK TO THE GALLERY FOR A GROUP SHOW OF NEW WORKS TITLED ‘DANCING FOR OUR COUNTRY.’

FEATURED ARTIST :

CORBAN CLAUSE WILLIAMS

DERRICK BUTT

DOREEN CHAPMAN

ELIZABETH  TOBY

JUDITH ANYA SAMSON

KUMPAYA GIRGIRBA

LILY LONG JATARR

LORNA LINMURRA

MARLENE ANDERON

MAY MAYIWALKU CHAPMAN

MUUKI TAYLOR

NANCY CHAPMAN

NGAMARU BIDU

Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree, NSW

Opens 29 September 

View exhibition here

Mirrka (Bushfoods)

More than eighty artworks explore traditional bushfoods in an immersive setting. Swags and a continuous basket weaving circle within the gallery space work to “make people feel like they’re in the bush, collecting bushfoods, when they’re experiencing the paintings. Sitting on a swag and making baskets, having that getting away feeling in the gallery” (Sylvia Wilson, exhibition curator).

Martumili Gallery, Newman, WA

July - November 2023

Shop artwork here

Paper Wangka (Paper Story)

cbOne Gallery is delighted to restage Paper Wangka (Paper Story) from Martumili Artist Gallery, Newman WA. Initially curated by Corban Clause Williams, Sylvia Wilson, and Robina Clause, Paper Wangka (Paper Story) was exhibited in May 2021 as an exhibition showcasing works on paper from established and emerging Martumili Artists.

Chapman and Bailey brings Paper Wangka (Paper Story) from East Pilbara to Wurundjeri country Naarm (Melbourne), presenting a selection of the works on paper from the original exhibition alongside paintings by the artists.

Chapman and Bailey Gallery, Abbotsford VIC 

14 October - 4 November 2023

View Exhibition Catalogue

we didn't get tired we just kept going. Mayiwalku, Mulyatingki, Nyanjilpayi

Celebrating the remarkable story and talent of revered senior Martu artists Mayiwalku (Maywokka) Chapman, Mulyatingki Marney, and Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Chapman , three sisters of the the pujiman (traditional/desert-dwelling) generation.

Born during the early 1940s, these sisters spent their early lives in and around the Karlamilyi, Kunawarritji and Punmu areas of Australia's northwest, traversing Martu desert Country with their family. Even long after most Martu families had migrated to towns and missions, Mayiwalku, Mulyantingki and Nyanjilpayi lived a nomadic lifestyle until in 1966, during a severe drought, they decided to walk into Balfour Downs Station before being taken to Jigalong Mission. After living in Jigalong for many years, the siblings are now based between Punmu, Warralong and Port Hedland. They were founding members of Martumili Artists and are among the most revered artists currently working from the Pilbara region.

Presented in collaboration with Martumili Artists and FORM's Spinifex Hill Studio , We didn't get tired. We just kept on going. features a collection of striking paintings depicting the Country Mayiwalku, Mulyantingki and Nyanjilpayi walked in their youth, expressively rendered in each artist's distinct style and breathtaking use of colour.

FORM Gallery, Claremont, WA

28 July - 7 October

JILA KUJARRA: TWO SNAKES DREAMING

Jila Kujarra: Two Snakes Dreaming is an exciting cross-cultural collaboration between Warnman artist Desmond Taylor and Boorloo-based textiles practitioner Mariaan Pugh, commissioned by Fremantle Arts Centre in partnership with Martumili Artists. 

Taylor and Pugh have worked together to transform Taylor’s Niminjarra paintings, usually seen on canvas or paper, into highly tactile textile works, animating the important Niminjarra Jukurrpa (Dreaming).

“Niminjarra is the two brothers transforming into a snake so they can come back home to Ngayartakujarra (Lake Dora). They were in training for ceremony, those two brothers, but they were kept too long, and nobody was there to release them. They waited then they decided to transform into snakes to travel back to where they came from, because their mother was waiting for them. This is Jukurrpa (Dreaming story).”

— Desmond Taylor, 2019

This body of work is born of Taylor’s desire to see his artworks reimagined through a textile medium and is a contemporary crafting of important ancestral stories deeply rooted in Warnman Ngurra (Country).

The dynamic intercultural collaboration between Desmond Taylor and textiles practitioner and educator Mariaan Pugh continues the practice of cultural and creative exchange, driven by Taylor and other Martu artists through Martumili Artists, sharing narratives and understandings of the world from the Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson deserts with national and international audiences.

Court House Gallery, Port Hedland, WA

4 August – 13 September 2023

View video here

Ngayu Bugai (I am Bugai) Paintings by Bugai Whyoulter

Bugai Whyoulter is a Kartujarra woman and a senior custodian of the lands surrounding Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route, Well 33) in remote Western Australia. Born in the 1940s at Pukayiyirna, she travelled northward with her parents toward Kunawarritji. In 1963 Bugai’s family encountered surveyor Len Beadell, who was grading roads for the Woomera Missile Testing Range. From the flour he provided, Bugai taught her relatives how to cook a simple damper (flat bread), a skill acquired from drovers she encountered on the Canning Stock Route. Shortly afterward Bugai, her husband, and her extended family moved to Jigalong Mission. There, they were reunited with many relatives that had already escaped the desert due to a prolonged and severe drought. They were some of the last Martu to leave the desert.

Timeless winds carry ancient songs across the salt and sand of Bugais home, songs that remind and reinforce whose country this is. Painted directly after Bugais return to Wantili, a large lyinji (clay pan) close to Bugai’s birthplace, this exhibition concentrates on works produced between 2019 and 2022. The paintings, starkly monochromatic, channel song memories into soft tonal gestures redolent of the salt plains of her Ngura. They are shimmering shadows of her vast country and, like the alchemists of old, turn sand into song and country into canvas. Bugai is country, Bugai is song and Bugai is Martu: Ngayu Bugai - I AM BUGAI.

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT

8 August - 1 September - 2023

View Catalogue

Derrick Butt SEASONS IN KULYAKARTU

I’ve been living in the desert for a long time- working and painting with Martumili and KJ [Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa] rangers, and I know the impact it can have on you.  My grandmother didn’t manage to go back to her Country because she passed on, but I went back there and now I paint that Country- that Country is mine through my blood, through my DNA. Painting my Country strengthens that connection- knowing that I belong to that place. It's a tribute to my grandmother. In a sense we know where we come from because of my grandmothers and grandfathers.

Paul Johnston Gallery, Darwin, NT

15 July - 5 August

View catalogue

TDF Collect Presents: ‘Martumili Artists’

Remember the TDF Collect exhibition we hosted last year in partnership with the brilliant Martumili Artists? Well, we’ve teamed up again with them for round two!

The art centre is based in Newman/Parnpajinya, Western Australia, and was established by the Martu people living in the communities of Parnpajinya, Jigalong, Parnngurr, Punmu, Kunawarritji, Irrungadji and Warralong of the East Pilbara deserts region.

We’re so excited to share the Martumili artists’ rich and vibrant works once again in our Collingwood gallery

The Design Files, Collingwood, Vic

July 29 – August 3

View Catalogue

Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters, International Tour

A world first for Australia in scale and complexity.

‘There has never been an Australian exhibition of this scale and significance to travel extensively to premier galleries across the world’, said artist Alison Page, a member of both the National Museum’s Indigenous Reference Group and the federal government’s Senior Advisory Group.

Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters showcases five Indigenous Western and Central desert songlines, utilising around 300 paintings and photographs, objects, song, dance and multimedia to narrate the story of the Seven Sisters and the creation of this continent as they travelled from west to east. The exhibition is underpinned by a depth of scholarship that involved a research journey over some 500,000 square kilometres of the continent, across three states and three deserts.

Songlines has toured to the UK’s prestigious museum and art gallery The Box in Plymouth from June to October 2021, the Humboldt Forum in the newly reconstructed Berlin Palace, in Berlin, Germany, from late 2021 through to early 2022.

Songlines is currently on show at France’s indigenous art and culture museum, the Musée du quai Branly — Jacques Chirac, in Paris, 4 April - 2 July 2023.

Learn more about Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters here

NGAPIKAJA "thingamibobs"

An exploration of the curious, the interesting and unexpected. Community life is full of the creative use of objects and surfaces to paint are not just limited to canvas or paper.
Curated by Sylvia Wilson, this exhibition is a celebration of the colourful world that is the art shed and community. You will find car doors and bonnets, weaving, painted teacups, photographs, prints and paintings depicting community life.

Martumili Gallery, Newman, WA

24 March - 24 June 2023

Shop the Exhibition 

Rawa - A Long Time

Pujiman is Martu for ‘desert born’ and the three Martu artists featured in Aboriginal Contemporary’s new exhibition are among the last surviving members of the last ever pujiman generation. In the words of a senior artist at Martumili Artists in the East Pilbara, W.A.: “Pujiman Days are almost gone. There is so much lost but we need to keep sharing to keep it alive.”

Pujiman is very much alive in the paintings of internationally-acclaimed artists Bugai Whyoulter and sisters May and Nancy Chapman. Their work depicts the salt lakes, sandhills and waterholes they learnt about as young girls travelling

Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney, NSW

29 October - 2022

View Catalogue here

JILA KUJARRA - Two snakes dreaming

Jila Kujarra: Two Snakes Dreaming is an exciting cross-cultural collaboration between Warnman artist Desmond Taylor and Boorloo-based textiles practitioner Mariaan Pugh.

Taylor and Pugh have worked together to transform Taylor’s Niminjarra paintings, usually seen on canvas or paper, into highly tactile textile works, animating the important Niminjarra Jukurrpa (Dreaming).

“Niminjarra is the two brothers transforming into a snake so they can come back home to Ngayartakujarra (Lake Dora). They were in training for ceremony, those two brothers, but they were kept too long, and nobody was there to release them. They waited then they decided to transform into snakes to travel back to where they came from, because their mother was waiting for them. This is Jukurrpa (Dreaming story).”

— Desmond Taylor, 2019

This body of work is born of Taylor’s desire to see his artworks reimagined through a textile medium and is a contemporary crafting of important ancestral stories deeply rooted in Warnman Ngurra (Country).

The dynamic intercultural collaboration between Desmond Taylor and textiles practitioner and educator Mariaan Pugh continues the practice of cultural and creative exchange, driven by Taylor and other Martu artists through Martumili Artists, sharing narratives and understandings of the world from the Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson deserts with national and international audiences.

Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, WA

Sat 13 Aug 2022 - Sun 23 Oct 2022

Watch an interview with the artists

Waru (fire)

Martumili Artists & Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa

Artists and rangers collaborate on Country to share knowledge, stories and artworks about waru (fire).

Martu have harnessed the power of waru in various forms as an integral cultural and functional practice for thousands of years. A tool for hunting, signalling and land management- knowledge of waru has been passed down through generations, and is still used for all these things today. Focused around a bush camp held in 2021, Martumili Artists and KJ rangers have collaborated on a body of creative and cultural works that explore and demonstrate the importance of waru for Martu- with programmed activities directly contributing to the continuing intergenerational transfer of Traditional and Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and with an exhibition showcasing the ongoing work of Martu in caring for ngurra (Country).

The Waru exhibition is the first part in a collaborative series of Martu-led workshops, camps and exhibits delivered by Martumili and KJ that foster opportunities for Martu led intergenerational learning, and showcase the ways in which both ranger and artistic work is embedded in maintaining Warrarnku Ninti (knowledge of Country).

Martumili Artists and Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa gratefully acknowledge principal partner BHP. The Waru |Warrarnku Ninti project has been supported by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industry through the Future Focus funding program.

Open July - September 2022

Digital Catalogue

Online gallery

TRACKS WE SHARE - Contemporary art of the Pilbara

“It’s the footstep that is passed down from history. As the Pilbara, we are all doing that. It’s a journey, that road, all as one. Cause that yiwarra [track] is for you and me.”

- Heather Samson, Tracks We Share Cultural Advisory Committee, Martumili Artists

Tracks We Share celebrates the Aboriginal artists and art centres of the Pilbara, an ancient and beautiful region spanning over 500,000 square kilometres of Australia’s North West.

This landmark exhibition brings together more than 70 artists and over 200 artworks across four gallery spaces. The extraordinary body of work features the most exciting contemporary art and creative practice coming out of the region while paying homage to the legacy that has informed it, offering a rare and broad-reaching insight into the region’s artistic output over the years.

The core of the exhibition is a spectacular selection of the stunning acrylic paintings for which the region’s art movement is primarily known, accompanied by works on paper, installations, film, animation, photographs, sculptures, and carvings. Together, they highlight the immense artistic diversity that exists within the Pilbara, spanning a gamut of styles while referencing ancient knowledge and modern events.

Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara is a collaboration between FORM, The Art Gallery of Western Australia; Aboriginal art centres Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group, Martumili Artists, Spinifex Hill Studio and Yinjaa-Barni Art; and independent artists Katie West, Jill Churnside and Curtis Taylor.

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA

11 March - 28 August 2022

View Tracks We Share websitehttps://tracksweshare.com.au/

3 Young Fellas

Corban Clause Williams, Cyril Whyoulter and Derrick Butt. Three young artists, three proud Martu men. They are teachers of their culture and painters of their country. Together, they symbolise a proud new generation of Martumili Artists celebrating cultural knowledge and cultural identity. This exhibition showcases the works of the 3 Young Fellas together for the first time.

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT

25June - 16 July 2022

View Online catalogue here

Nyinani | Stay Put

This is a story of artists painting at home, during periods of isolation and lockdowns from 2020 - 2022. During the global pandemic the remote Martu communities of Parnngurr, Punmu, Kunawarritji, Warralong and Jigalong have experienced lockdowns and restrictions, with access to visitors strictly prohibited to protect community members, and in particular the important elders that call Martu Country home. Martu Artists who found themselves at home or on Country during lockdown had the opportunity for reconnection with their daily art practice, undisturbed by busy contemporary life as Australia, and indeed the world, slowed down in the face of the global pandemic. These artworks showcase the unstoppable determination of Martu Artists in their work, and demonstrates a deep and enduring commitment to art-making as an act of cultural preservation and social connection. To Martu Artists, painting is connection. And in times of isolation and lockdown, they have remained connected to eachother, and to their Country.

Martumili Artist Gallery, Newman WA

22 April – 30 June 2022

Digital catalogue

Online Gallery

ALCASTON GALLERY | BUGAI WHYOULTER - SURVEY EXHIBITION 2015 - 2021

Alcaston Gallery, in conjunction with Martumili Artists, is delighted to present an important survey exhibition of paintings by Bugai Whyoulter, a Kartujarra woman and a senior custodian of the lands surrounding Kunawarritji in Western Australia, with a curated selection of the artist’s significant works from 2015 to 2021 based on Place - depicting key sites across Whyoulter's ngurra (Country).

Winner of the General Painting Award in the 2021 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for her painting Wantili (Warntili, Canning Stock Route Well 25), Whyoulter is known as a master of colour and gesture.

Born of the pujiman generation (meaning bush or desert born and dwelling), Whyoulter spent the first thirty years of her life travelling the eastern side of the Karlamily (Rudall River) region and along the midsection of what was later known as the Canning Stock Route - an 1850 kilometre-long track that traverses the Great Sandy, the Little Sandy and the Gibson Deserts of Western Australia - from Kartarru (Canning Stock Route Well 24) to Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33). The intimate knowledge she holds from this time, of the land, its hidden water sources and the stories that shape them, is effortlessly transferred to her paintings through a practice that is intuitive, gestural, and highly perceptive.  

Following the artist's recent success at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art awards and exhibition at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, this important survey exhibition maps not only the artist's practice over the past six years, but also provides a sense of place and context, depicting key water sources of Wantili, Kaalpa, Parnngurr,  Wangkaklu, Tiwa and Kartarru, places long revered and understood by Whyoulter and the Martu people.

Considered one of the most established Martumili Artists working today, Bugai Whyoulter has been acquired by several major national institutions and exhibited widely both nationally and internationally.

Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC

27 April - 13 May 2022

Digital Catalogue

Roxanne Newberry 'Rising'

Artija Fine Art Gallery in partnership with Martumili is delighted to be curating RISING! The first solo exhibition and emerging star Roxanne Newberry from the remote community of Punmu in the East Pilbara, WA.

Artija Fine Art Gallery, Fremantle, WA

12 March - 3 April 2022

View Online catalogue here

LIVING WATER

The 16 new artworks in Living Water showcase both senior and emerging artists and pay homage to the significance  of water to the peoples of Martu Country. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, knowledge of water sources was fundamental for survival and Martu Country is still defined by its water sources today. But while there are many permanent springs only some are ‘living waters’; natural sources protected by powerful ancestral beings known as jila, who take the form of snakes.

Aboriginal Contemporary, Waverley NSW

24 October – Open

Click here to view 

PUNMUKARTI!

A vibrant and fun exhibition at Yaama Gaanu Gallery in Moree, NSW, featuring works created during the 2019 Martumili Wangka (artist meeting) held in Punmu community. Gallery curator Toby travelled to Punmu to join 50 artists and staff in Punmu for wangka (talk), painting and planning.

Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree, NSW

Click here to view exhibition.

PUJIMAN

Pujiman, which means bush or desert born and dwelling, is the creative culmination of a two year collaboration between Martumili Artists (Newman) and FORM’s Spinifex Hill Artists (Port Hedland). The art centres, both located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, united to bring the last pujiman generation together with younger artists to share knowledge of culture and Country. The exhibition includes major collaborative paintings, as well as exciting new works in mediums of animation, film and drawing; all reflecting on the rich experiences shared in the project.

The Pujiman exhibition is currently touring Western Australia with ART ON THE MOVE.

Click here for more information.

Desert Studios

Martumili Artists paint from 7 different places, Jigalong, Parnngurr, Punmu, Kunawarritji, Irrungadji, Parnpajinya (Newman) and Warralong.

These towns and desert communities are now home for many Martu, many of whom maintained an entirely independent, nomadic desert lifestyle up until the late 1960s. Paintings tell stories of country traversed, special meeting places, waterholes and are an integral part of the passing of knowledge from those pujiman (traditional) days. 

Even now, life shifts like desert sands, people continuously moving between places as work, family and other commitments require. For Martumili Artists, there is always a place to stop for a while, have a cup of tea, paint, share stories and spend time learning from each other. It’s not unusual for an elder to be quietly singing in language as they paint and there is always a jarntu (dog) or two around. Canvas is primed, paints are mixed - the ‘art shed’ is so much more than the name implies – it is a bustling, lively, working studio.

Martumili Artist Gallery, Newman WA

1 October – 30 December 2021

Digital catalogue

WHAT NOW?

What Now? is a group exhibition of emerging talent from Martumili Artists, scheduled to open in October, 2020. The exhibition will present a survey of bold new works from the next generation of Martu- artists informed by Country, empowered by culture and inspired by their predecessors. The exhibition will be an opportunity to celebrate the dynamic paintings and photography currently being produced by emerging artists across the remote East Pilbara. 

Featuring Biddy Bunawarrie, Marianne Burton, Derrick Butt, Doreen Chapman, Judith Anya Samson, Helen Dale Samson, Debra Thomas, Cyril Whyoulter, Corban Clause Williams, Tamisha Williams and other artists from across the Martu Western Desert communities.

The Goods Shed, Claremont WA

7 October – 10 December

Click here to view 

Contemporary Desert Art

Frewen Arts presents: Largescale Canvases from Award-winning Australian Western Desert Artists

Featuring:Wangkatjungka artists collaborative works;2019 NATSIAA finalists Bugai Whyoulter and Yurnangurnu Nola Campbell; Multi–award winner Wakartu Cory Surprise (deceased); Senior Martu artists Nyanjilpayi Nancy Chapman and Kumpaya Girgirba;
Warakurna artists Maureen Baker, Cynthia Burke and Dorcas Bennett.

Dellaspora Gallery, London, United Kingdom.

13th November - 7th December.

Click here to view exhibition.

NUGURRA MEANS HOME

“It’s their home for them, real ngurra (home Country, camp). Real ngurra is where they been born and grow up.”

- Corban Clause Williams

The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Country for Martu is full of memory; not just the memory of their own movement through it, but also of their family. As summarised by Ngalangka Nola Taylor, “painting the ngurra, they do it to remember their connections.” 

Martumili Gallery, Newman WA

18 September – 14 November

Click here to view 

DESERT MOB 2020

Featuring hundreds of new works by emerging and established artists, this year’s exhibition promises to be a dynamic interplay of traditional and contemporary works reflecting multiple artist’ cultural voices.

The exhibition presents paintings, sculpture, weaving, wood carving, prints, photography and works on paper.

Online sales will begin at 9am on Friday 11 September, or if you’re in Alice Springs you can book in a free ticketed public viewing from 1 – 8pm. The exhibition will continue until Sunday 25th October at Araluen Arts Centre and is open from 10am – 4pm daily.

Featuring Martumili Artists – Marianne Burton | May Chapman | Corban Clause Williams | Judith Anya Samson | Muuki Taylor | Wokka Taylor | Bugai Whyoulter

Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs NT

11 September – 25 October

Click here to view 

MARTUMILI MOB

The Junction Co. warmly welcomes the Martumili Mob for a special Courthouse Gallery+Studio exhibition – showcasing a fun and diverse group show by emerging and established Martumili Artists. All are invited to celebrate the contemporary identity of the artist group, and the unique environments the Martu artists work in. For Martu, art making is about so much more than paintings – the art centre is a space of community connection, story-telling, cultural celebration, and communal joy. This exhibition offers the Port Hedland community a chance to be get to know the incredible people and experiences that make Martumili so special.

This vibrant exhibition captures the energy that Martumili Artists have for creating and presenting their work and illustrates the Martu Peoples’ commitment to sharing the importance of Country and keeping culture alive.

Martumili Mob features artwork by Attaya Angie, Gladys Kuru Bidu, Biddy Bunawarrie, Marianne Burton, Derrick Butt, Nancy Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Chapman, Amy French, Kumpaya Girgirba, Lily Jatarr Long, Roxanne Newberry, Mary Rowlands, Judith Anya Samson, Desmond Taylor, Curtis Taylor, Muuki Taylor, Debra Thomas, Bugai Whyoulter, Cyril Whyoulter, Corban Clause Williams and Pauline Williams.

Court House Gallery, Port Hedland WA

6 August – 30 September 2021

Digital catalogue

MARLPA

‘MARLPA’ is the Martu word for companionship or company, so for two people who are good friends, who spend much time together, often painting together it seemed like a fitting name for their first joint exhibition. 

Aboriginal Contemporary and Martumili Artists are proud and privileged to bring you Corban Clause Williams and Judith Anya Samson who are destined to shape the future of Western Desert Art.

Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney NSW

17 September 2021

Digital catalogue

Warralong

434km from Newman, Warralong community was established as an offshoot of the Strelley Station, and has strong ties to pastoral history, including the 1946 Pilbara strike. The closest of the communities to the coast, Warralong is also surrouded by lush waterways and green campspots. The community is centred around the school, which is where the Warralong artists set up to paint. Martumili Artists such as Biddy Bunawarrie, Lorna Linmurra, Mary Rowlands, May Mayiwalku Chapman and Doreen Chapman all call Warralong home, and like to take the Martumili staff camping and fishing when they can!

Featured Artists: Doreen Chapman, Elizabeth Toby, Lorna Linmurra, May Chapman Mayiwalku (May Wokka), Nancy Chapman Nyanjilpayi, Ngamaru Bidu and Yikartu Bumba

Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree NSW

10 July – 10 August 2021

Digital catalogue 

PUKURLPA (happy inside)

“This one here is just like when you got a lot of stress and worries.  Make your mind think of a lot of things.  In this painting I put not bad colours, good colours to help fight those things in your mind.  These two (points to white circles bottom right) maparn wantis (spiritual, magic ladies) they landed at Wantili they would put out a sort of radar so the Seven Sisters would know where to go.  They spiritual ladies, like GPS they help find your way.  This one (points to top right) is Seven Sisters.  Over there (top left) Southern Cross, maparn girls, medicine girls.  Here (bottom left) is the ngurra (home, country, camp) for wantis.  When they dance around the ngurra, smooth it all out.  All these create the minerals, the gold.  The dotting colour Martu use these for lore.”

• Heather Samson 

The activity of painting creates a safe space and gives opportunity for artists to gather and connect to each other, culture and Country. Through the practice of painting artists can recognise the value of their culture and take pride in what it represents creating happiness within, pukurlpa. This exhibition is a celebration of the practice of making art to feel happy inside.

Martumili Gallery, Newman WA

27 April – 27 June 2021

Digital catalogue 

Paper Wangka (Paper Story)

As part of the NAIDOC celebrations, Martumili Artists present, Paper Wangka (Paper Story)

Curated by Corban Clause Williams, Sylvia Wilson, and Robina Clause
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
An exhibition showcasing never seen before works on paper from established and emerging Martumili Artists.  Corban, Sylvia and Robina worked round the clock with PAM (Proffessional Arts Management) to curate and install this very special exhibition, unearthing treasures from the Martumili archives.

Martumili Artist Gallery, Newman WA

8 May – 28 May 2021

Digital catalogue

JIRLPIPARAKU (A few old men)

Yunkurra Billy Atkins, Wokka Taylor and Muuki Taylor were born and raised at Kulyakartu, Kuljali and Kumpupirntily in the East Pilbara region of WA. Yunkurra is the caretaker and custodian of Kumpupirntily while Muuki and Wokka are the protectors of Kulyakartu. This inherited duty is an enormous responsibility as the areas hold immense cultural importance. Last year, during the height of the pandemic, they revisited their country and painted a series of works invigorating their cultural connection. This is their story.

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin NT 

8 May – 28 May 2021

Digital catalogue 

Kujunka: Old & Young Together

Martumili Artists and Bertrand Estrangin present 40 artworks from the senior and emerging talents of the art centre. Curated following gallerist Bertrand's visit to Martu Country, this selection of work demonstrates the deep knowledge of Country that Martu are communicating to younger generations, and with the wider global community, through their art-making.

Signature Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.

15th January - 15th February 2

Click here to view the exhibition.

IN CAHOOTS

In Cahoots celebrates the unique and energised artistic works that emerge when artists collaborate across cultures and Country. This exhibition was the result of six residencies with remote and regional Aboriginal Arts Centres, undertaken by independent Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists from across Australia.

In Cahoots is a touring exhibition from Fremantle Art Centre.

Martumili Gallery, Newman, WA.

October 4th - November 22nd

Click here for more information.

How Did I Get Here?

This exhibition features video and photographic works from the Art Gallery WA State Art Collection of seven Australian contemporary artists. Their works will be interwoven with complimentary Martumili Artists pieces; asking the question ‘How Did I get Here?’ and inviting you to contemplate how your relationships and environments define your sense of self.

Featuring Martumili Artists – Shirley Nuria Jadai | Alysha Taylor | Richard Chilli Mandijalu | Ignatius Paul Taylor | Janita Angie | Judith Anya Samson | Tamisha Williams | Montana Williams Clause

Martumili Artist Gallery, Newman WA

4 July -  9 August 2020

Virtual tour from the 13 July

Click here to view the virtual tour

REVEALED

The Revealed 2020 exhibition at Fremantle Arts Centre is set to be the biggest yet, bringing together 25 remote and regional Aboriginal art centers and independent Aboriginal artists together to showcase their works. Although the doors to Fremantle Arts Centre are currently closed this year, they have worked to bring audiences the Revealed Exhibition through a comprehensive online catalogue.

Featuring Martumili Artists - Derrick Butt | Lorna Linmurra | Helen Samson | Desmond Taylor | Tamisha Williams

Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle WA

22 April -  24 May 2020

Click here to view the exhibition 

BELONGING TO MARTU

Recognized for their diverse, energetic and unmediated painting styles, their works reflect the dramatic geography and scale of their homelands. The group proudly maintain their creative practices whilst pursuing social and cultural obligations across the Martu homelands. Martu elders formed their art centre and named it Martumili (Belonging to Martu).

Featuring Martumili Artists – Bugai Whyoulter | Biddy Bunawarrie | Corban Clause Williams | Cyril Whyoulter | Jakayu Bilajabu | Kumpaya Girgirba | Ngamaru Bidy

Harvey Art Projects, Ketchum ID 83340 USA

10 September -  15 October 2020

Click here to view 

STRONG COUNTRY

‘I unrolled the works, spread them on the gallery floor and I was, as if by magic, back in Martumili three weeks earlier. Art does this, sorry, great art does this; it transcends time. It melts the current setting, emotion or situation, an ability only mimicked by music performance. So there I was, swimming in a sea of colour and culture, oblivious to the world outside’ – Paul Johnstone

After his first, very welcoming visit to the Martumili Artists gallery and studio in Newman, Paul Johnstone returned home to Darwin and awaited the selected artwork to arrive for this very exhibition. Within that small time frame of three weeks the world had changed quite dramatically, especially for the indigenous arts sphere. Now, is yet another time for Martumili community and its artist to illustrate its strengths in all of its forms.

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT.

2 April to 2 May 2020 

Click here to view the exhibition.

I KNOW MY COUNTRY

Artitja Fine Art Gallery presents an exhibition of new works by established and emerging artists. Including artwork from Martumili Artists, Bugai Whyoulter, Dadda Samson, Derek Butt and Cyril Whyoulter. This show emphasises the artist intimate understanding of their country and connection to home.  

Artitja Fine Gallery, South Fremantle, WA.

March - April 2020 

Click here to view the exhibition.

MATRIARCHS 2020

Curated by gallery owner Paul Johnstone with his acknowledgement of the absence of women in historical narrative and how it has left a skewed perception of history. The is a group exhibition includes artists from Papunya Tula Artists,  Warmun Art Centre,  Kaltjiti Arts,  Warlayirti Artists and Martumili Artists and creates a space for Australian women from remote communities to share their history. 

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT.

6th March - 28th March 2020 

Click here to view the exhibition.

Nyurnma (burnt Country)

Martu artists paint Country in all it’s different seasonal stages. Important to Martu, and to Martu Country, is the practice of waru (fire burning); a practice that assists with hunting, regenerates growth, and encourages greater diversity in plant and animal life. When Martu Country burns, mosaic fire scars are left on the Country, and patches of regeneration form a pattern across the land. This is called nyurnma - burnt Country. 

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT.

July 2019

Click here to view the exhibition

DESERT MOB 2018

Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT

Click here to view exhibition

MARTUMILI NGURRA - OUR COUNTRY

Curated by Gallery owner Nichola during a recent visit, this group exhibition pays homage not only to Martumili’s senior and emerging artists, but also to the vast beauty of Martu Country – from Jigalong in the West to Kunawarritji in the East.

Aboriginal Contemporary, Bronte, NSW.

24 October – 3 November 2019

Click here to view the exhibition.

MARTUMILI KUULKAJA

(MARTU SCHOOLS)

Martu children attend school in the remote communities of Punmu, Parnngurr, Kunawarritji, Irrungadji and Warralong. This exhibition recognises the Kuulkaja as being at the heart of each community, and celebrates the important role they play in keeping culture, Country and language strong.
 

Martumili Gallery, Newman, WA.

July - October 2019

Click here to view the exhibition.

BUGAI

Bugai Whyoulter is an internationally acclaimed pujiman (desert-born) artist, from Kunawarritji (Well 33). In association with Martumili Artists, FORM presents Bugai, a solo exhibition of significant recent and historical works showing why Bugai’s artwork continues to resonate across cultures, generations and borders.

The Goods Shed, Claremont, WA

July - September 2019

Click here to view exhibition

MARTU WANGKA

Martu wangka is the language spoken by Martu people across the East Pilbara, Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts. The language combines elements of Manyjiljarra, Kartujarra, Warnman and Nyiyaparli. Martu artists share culture and language by storytelling through their paintings, and are keeping the language strong.

Martumili Gallery, Newman, WA

March - July 2019

Click here to view exhibition

KAALPA | CORBAN CLAUSE WILLIAMS

In his first solo exhibition, emerging artist Corban depicts his grandfather's Country of Kaalpa (Well 23 on the Canning Stock Route). Representing the new generation of Martumili Artists, Corban showcases a practice informed by tradition, yet imbued with his own unique contemporary vision of Country.

Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland (WA)

17th May - 22nd June

Click here to view the exhibition

GRAND OLD MEN

Grand Old Men is an exhibition that pays homage to some of the great men of Indigenous art. Culturally, these men exemplify strength and honour, artistically they present powerful renditions of ancestral narratives. They are role models to generations while their artworks are coveted by collectors and Institutions.

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT

9 March - 30 March 2019

Click here to view exhibition

WANTILI

Wantili is a collaborative exhibition by Bugai and Cyril Whyoulter

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT

1 September - 13 October 2018

Click here to view exhibition

PUJIMAN

Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland, WA

16 February – March 2018

Martumili Gallery, Newman, WA

25 May – 21  July 2018

The Goods Shed, Claremont, WA

23 August – 27 September 2018

Click here to view exhibition

WARLA TUWA

Aboriginal Contemporary, Bronte, NSW

4 July – 18 July 2018

Click here to view exhibition

MARTUKU NINTI

Vivien Anderson Gallery, St Kilda, VIC

18 April – 12 May 2018

Click here to view exhibition

SONGLINES; TRACKING THE SEVEN SISTERS

National Museum of Australia, Canberra , ACT

15 September 2017 - 28 February 2018

Click here to view exhibition

CONSTELLATION

Constellation is an exhibition that brings together a collection of outstanding artists from a diversity of regions.

Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT  

18 March - 1 April 2017

Click here to view exhibition