Artists of Ampilatwatja Aboriginal artworks © Desart
Aboriginal Art Landscapes of Ampilatwatja
Twenty-five years ago, 20 artists from Ampilatwatja held their first exhibition. It sold out entirely. The community is 325 kilometres northeast of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), on Aherrenge country, the land of the Alyawarre people. By 2003 the art centre was incorporated, with founding members Daisy Kemarre Moss, Lilly Kemarre Morton, Colleen Ngwarraye Morton, Edie Kemarre Holmes, Michelle Pula Holmes, and Lulu Pitjara Teece. These artists worked alongside the women of nearby Utopia, who in 1987 participated in A Picture Story — eighty-eight batik works on silk — and A Summer Project, the women's first works on canvas. Both projects were initiated by CAAMA and acquired by the Robert Holmes a Court Collection in 1988.
The work produced here is distinct from other Aboriginal artistic communities. Paintings pay homage to the significance and use of traditional bush medicine, depicting waterholes and soaks, mountains, sand hills, and the flowering plants of Aherrenge country. Arreth, strong bush medicine, is the predominant subject, reflecting the artists' deep connection to a land that has sustained Alyawarre people for generations.
Where much Central Australian art is built on abstract symbols, Ampilatwatja paintings are figurative and detailed. Fine dotting and careful brushwork create texture and abundance. But underneath the surface there is deliberate depth: in keeping with religious law, artists reveal only a small amount of knowledge to the uninitiated. Sacred esoteric information is concealed beneath the visual narrative, layered under the delicate dotwork of each painting.
The art centre is a place where women across all generations gather to paint, pass on knowledge, and share stories. Men carve and make wooden artefacts. Artists exhibit regularly in galleries across Australia and internationally, and attend key industry events including Desert Mob in Alice Springs, the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, and the National Indigenous Art Fair in Sydney.
"Our painting has no borders, just one country. Ampilatwatja is our place, Ampilatwatja is our country." — Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney
Artists of Ampilatwatja at a glance
- Founded: First exhibition 1999; incorporated 2003. Located 325km northeast of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), NT.
- Language and Culture: Alyawarre people of Aherrenge country.
- Art Style: Figurative landscape paintings depicting bush medicine plants, waterholes, soaks, mountains, and desert flora. Fine dotting with sacred knowledge layered beneath the visual surface. Paintings, linocut prints, and wooden artefacts.
- Founding Artists: Daisy Kemarre Moss, Lilly Kemarre Morton, Colleen Ngwarraye Morton, Edie Kemarre Holmes, Michelle Pula Holmes, Lulu Pitjara Teece.
- Active Artists: Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney, Kathleen Nanima Rambler, Nancy Pitjara Frank, Rita Pitjara Beasley, Maisie Petyarre Bundey, Diane Kemarre Ross.
