An exhibition of paintings by Anangu Pila Nguru (the Spinifex people) begins Friday with a celebratory opening night at the Japingka Gallery of Aboriginal Art, Fremantle.
The exhibition, Sun and Shadow: Art of the Spinifex People, will be officially launched by former Western Australian Premier, Richard Court AC, at 7pm on September 22.
The evening will showcase works by world-renowned artist Timo Hogan and others who work at the art centre in Tjuntjuntjara, in the Great Victoria Desert. All Hogan's four works in the collection have already sold but there are many more by other artists available.
The 10th exhibition the gallery has held in 25 years showcasing the Spinifex people's exquisite artwork will also feature a presentation on the book of the same name, Sun and Shadow, edited by John Carty and Luke Scholes.
Sun and Shadow is about the Spinifex People who live at their ancestral homelands at Tjuntjuntjara –a seven-hour drive from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The Spinifex People have triumphed over adversity, having lived near the site of the Maralinga atomic bomb testing which occurred from 1956 to 1963.
Some of the works are collaborative – each contributing artist paints the part of the country for which they are the recognised Custodian. These are extremely rare and historically important paintings.
Ian Plunkett, co-owner of Japingka with abstract artist David Wroth, has been exhibiting the Spinifex painters for more than 20 years.
"We are delighted to once again showcase these exceptional and internationally recognised artists at Japingka," he said.
"This is one of our best collections to date and features brightly coloured aerial perspectives of Aboriginal land. The land is seen from above as if painting a map of the artist's country. This comes from the need of Aboriginal people to keep deep knowledge of their country in picture form and in a song cycle, so that they could retain large amounts of information in their heads. The aerial view paintings often have Dreaming information overlaid on the map of the terrain, giving both a physical and a spiritual account of the country.
"The art is fascinating, requiring an extremely high level of expertise and is also one of Australia's most underrated cultural endeavours. Knowledge of the Spinifex People's art is very limited and we are doing our best to share and promote it, so the general community can appreciate and understand what a treasure it is."
The exhibition, presented in association with Spinifex Arts Project, is at Japingka until October 31 and features a wide range of different styles and subjects.
In 2023, Hogan also exhibited at Voir L'Invisible, Museum MAAM in Angouleme, France, in conjunction with Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery. In 2022, his work appeared in prestigious galleries in Alice Springs, Belfast (Northern Ireland), Sydney and Belgium. Four of his works feature in the Sun and Shadow exhibition. One painting is hanging in Japingka while three others are available to view online on the website.
The book, Sun and Shadow, details how the people prefer to always have 'malpa' and never be alone when they are sleeping, eating, travelling or painting. "The history of Spinifex painting reveals the creative and conceptual centrality of cooperation and collaboration that is fundamental to the lives of the Anangu people and their artistic practice," the book reports. It is published by Upswell Publishing.
