L: Kaylene Whiskey. R: Seven Sisters Song, Kaylene Whiskey, 2021. Photo: Iwantja Arts
Iwantja Arts, Indulkana Community, APY Lands, South Australia
In 2011, a young Western Arrernte man named Vincent Namatjira arrived in Indulkana and was inspired to start painting by his father-in-law Kunmanara (Jimmy) Pompey, a senior artist at Iwantja Arts. Nine years later, he became the first Indigenous artist to win the Archibald Prize in its 99-year history. Iwantja Arts was established in the early 1980s by founding artists and directors Alec Baker and Sadie Singer in the rocky desert country of the APY Lands in the remote north-west of South Australia. The art centre is named after the Iwantja Creek near where the Indulkana community was founded, close to the site of the Tjurki (owl) Tjukurpa, a significant spiritual location for local Anangu people.
Iwantja Arts is an Indigenous owned and governed art centre supporting over 40 predominantly Yankunytjatjara artist members. Primarily a painting studio, it also supports artists working with experimental materials and processes and runs a multimedia program that has produced intergenerational collaborative film projects including NEVER STOP RIDING (2017) and Kungka Kunpu (2019). The centre is one of eleven art centres in the APY Art Centre Collective. Vincent Namatjira, who won the 2020 Archibald Prize for his portrait Stand Strong for Who You Are, also won the 2019 Ramsay Art Prize and received the OAM that same year. Kaylene Whiskey, known for paintings that place figures from pop culture such as Dolly Parton and Tina Turner into Indulkana country, won the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2018. Peter Mungkuri is a senior artist whose detailed paintings and drawings of country have been widely exhibited and collected.
Iwantja Arts at a glance
- Location: Indulkana Community, APY Lands, north-west South Australia
- Language group: Yankunytjatjara (Anangu people)
- Established: Early 1980s, by founding artists Alec Baker and Sadie Singer
- Art forms: Acrylic painting, experimental mixed media, printmaking, sculpture, multimedia and film
- Notable artists: Vincent Namatjira OAM (2020 Archibald Prize), Kaylene Whiskey (2018 Sulman Prize), Peter Mungkuri, Alec Baker, Sadie Singer
- Getting there: APY Lands require an entry permit; Iwantja Arts is not open to the public without prior arrangement
