Martumili Artists involved in landmark exhibition at Art Gallery of WA

Published on Wednesday, 16 March 2022 at 4:03:40 PM

The Shire of East Pilbara is honoured to announce that Martumili Artists is involved in a landmark exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia, which opened in Perth last week.

Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara celebrates the Aboriginal artists and artwork of the Pilbara region. The show is a collaboration between Western Australian non-profit arts and cultural organisation FORM; The Art Gallery of Western Australia; Aboriginal art centres Martumili Artists, Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group, Spinifex Hill Studio, and Yinjaa-Barni Art; as well as independent artists Katie West, Curtis Taylor, and Jill Churnside.

Martumili Artists make up 44 of the more than 70 artists involved in the exhibition, which features over 200 artworks.

The exhibition’s body of work showcases the exciting contemporary art coming out of the Pilbara region, while paying homage to the legacy of cultural and creative work that has informed it. It offers a rare and broad-reaching insight into the region’s artistic output over the years.

Shire President Anthony Middleton congratulated all the artists involved in the exhibition.

“The artworks in this exhibition are wonderful and I want to thank our local artists involved, as well as all artists in the exhibition, for sharing your heartfelt renditions of what this region means to you,” he said.

“Anyone who has visited the Pilbara knows what a special place it is, but the exhibition’s artwork can give anyone a deeper insight into our vast region’s many different language groups, and their connections to the land, and each other.”

Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara was named as such by a group of exhibiting artists and representatives from each art centre, and references the many language groups and diverse country of the Pilbara, while acknowledging the physical, cultural and artistic tracks that connect them all.

Featured Martumili artist and Martumili staff member Corban Clause Williams said [sic] “Big art centre- Martumili. The old people, they did this art centre. For everybody. For everyone. Doesn’t matter who’s not an artist or [is an] artist, it’s for everyone. And we keep our art centre strong, our old peoples really happy for our young ones working here. The oldies, they can get really happy, pukurlpa. And we, young people [who] work for art centre, we help our Elders, old people, you know.”

Senior artist Thelma Judson said [sic] “We should be there for that big painting, big story that Kintyre painting. Too much virus. We missing out on a good thing” senior artist Thelma Judson said.

Senior artist Muuki Taylor (translated by Heather Samson) said [sic] “We’re in the middle. And these ones, their Country is next to us. We’re all doing the same, we’re all acting as one. One tjina [footprint].”

The exhibition is a culmination of the multi-year Tracks We Share project, managed by FORM in collaboration with the participating art centres. The project has mapped the breadth of the region’s diverse creative practice and honours the unique space the Pilbara’s Aboriginal artists have carved out within the contemporary Australian art industry.

For more information visit the official Tracks We Share website.

Anyone in Newman can also experience the vast and varied artworks created by Martumili Artists, inside their Gallery in the East Pilbara Art Centre on Newman Drive. The gallery is open 10am-4pm Monday to Friday, and 10am-2pm on Saturdays.

Picture caption: Robina Clause, Judith Anya Samson and Corban Clause William. Picture: Claire Martin.

Fact File

• Tracks We Share is on display at The Art Gallery of Western Australia from 11^th March to 28^th August 2022.
• The official website can be found at tracksweshare.com.au
• Tracks We Share project documentation will be shared in the form of a publication which provides insight into the artists, places, creative processes, Country and stories behind the art.
• Visit martumili.com.au for more information about Martumili Artists including their online store.
• The 44 Martumili Artists involved in the Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara exhibition are:

Bugai Whyoulter. Picture: Duncan Wright.

Desmond Taylor and Muuki Taylor with the Kintyre artwork. Picture: Duncan Wright.

Robina Clause. Picture: Claire Martin.

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