Ninuku Arts: Pitjantjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra Artists, Kalka and Pipalyatjara, APY Lands, SA
In 2010, Jimmy Donegan travelled to Darwin for the first time and saw the ocean. He returned to Kalka having won the $40,000 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and the General Painting category, the first artist to win both in the same year. His winning painting, Papa Tjukurpa and Pukara, told two ancestral stories: the Dingo Dreaming from his father's country at Dulu in the Gibson Desert, and the sacred waterhole of Pukara, his grandfather's country. Donegan had begun painting professionally only in 2000, and started with Ninuku Arts when it was established in 2006. Ninuku was founded that year by a small group of Pitjantjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra artists, including Donegan's sister Molly Nampitjin Miller as founding director, in a mud-brick building in Kalka Community, the only mud-brick building on the APY Lands.
Kalka and Pipalyatjara sit near the tri-state border of South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, surrounded by the rolling hills of the Tomkinson Ranges. Together the two communities are home to around 300 Anangu, and Ninuku is the most remote of the seven art centres within the APY Lands. The centre supports around 40 artists and makers across painting, tjanpi (grass weaving), punu (woodwork), and kalawatjanga (glass). The art practice has its roots in Western Desert dot painting but artists have incorporated loose brushwork and new mediums over time. Other artists include Yangi Yangi Fox, Nyanu Watson, and Samuel Miller. The centre operates on an ethos of inclusivity, welcoming artists regardless of age, gender, or experience.
Ninuku Arts at a glance
- Location: Kalka Community, APY Lands, SA. Near the SA/WA/NT tri-state border.
- Established: 2006, founded by Pitjantjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra artists in Kalka Community. Founding director: Molly Nampitjin Miller.
- People: Pitjantjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra, APY Lands.
- Artists: Around 40 from Kalka and Pipalyatjara.
- Art forms: Acrylic painting on canvas, tjanpi (grass weaving), punu (woodwork), kalawatjanga (glass), works on paper.
- Access: APY Lands require a permit to enter. Contact the APY Land Access Office for permit requirements before visiting.
