Walter Jugadai, Glen Helen landscape, 153x92cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Walter Jugadai
• Community - Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff) 
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Ikuntji Artists
• Catalogue number - 19/WJ30
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H92 W153 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - As displayed

This painting shows Glen Helen Gorge.

Walter Jugadai was born in Alice Springs in 1983. His mother, Judith Nelson, and father Nebo Jugadai were both from Haasts Bluff. Walter went to school in Papunya and Haasts Bluff. It was at Papunya school that he first began drawing with pencil on paper. Walter grew up watching the old men painting at Haasts Bluff, even before there was an art centre. He fondly remembers helping them, getting water for them and learning from them.

Walter learnt to paint from members of the Namatjira family. Albert Namatjira;s watercolour paintings continue to inspire Walter today. Amongst those who taught Walter to paint were Kevin Morris and Skipper Raggett. After finishing school in Papunya, Walter went to college at Yirarra in Alice Springs. He then returned to Haasts Bluff where he worked in the old station house.

Walter first started painting on canvas in 2004 at Ikuntji Artists. Over the years, Walter has proven to be a dynamic artist, ranging from vivid landscape scenes to painting the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) passed down to him from his family. Both of Walter’s sisters, Evelyn and Maisie, also paint at Ikuntji Artists.

In 2012 Walter Travelled to Melbourne for the Melbourne Art Fair to exhibit his work. In 2014, he went to Korea on an artist-in-residency as part of the Nomadic Artists Exchange.

Walter currently works for the Men’s Tjilirra Movement, which was initiated at Haasts Bluff and supported from the beginning by Ikuntji Artists through selling all tools at the art centre. As part of the job he travels across the Western Desert making Tjilirra (traditional handmade tools including boomerangs, shields, spears and carrying vessels) with local men as part of a suicide prevention program. Walter says that while he is travelling for work he gets to see many beautiful landscapes, and especially sunsets. Despite being so busy, Walter still finds time to paint those impressive landscapes. He also sometimes paints the star and shield Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) that was passed down to him from his grandfather.

A lot of stories are still being recounted of long journeys of people from various language groups, who travelled from rockholes and waterholes to caves and mountains finally arriving at Haasts Bluff. The locals, Luritja people of Haasts Bluff, were already here. Thus Haasts Bluff is a community rich of diversity in language and culture.

Ikuntji Artists was first established in 1992, after a series of workshops with Melbourne artist Marina Strocchi, and under the influence of the then community president, the late Esther Jugadai. The art centre was initially set up to fulfil the role of women’s centre providing services such as catering for old people and children in the community. After first experiences made in printing T-shirts, the artists began producing acrylic paintings on linen and handmade paper, which quickly gained the attention of the Australian and international art world as well as earning the centre an impressive reputation for fine art. The focus changed from a women’s centre to an art centre in 2005 with the incorporation of the art centre as Ikuntji Artists Aboriginal Corporation.

The artists draw their inspiration from their personal ngurra (country) and Tjukurrpa (Dreaming). They interpret the ancestral stories by using traditional symbols, icons and motifs. The artistic repertoire of Ikuntji Artists is diverse and includes for example: naive as well as highly abstract paintings told by each artist in their personal signature style. Throughout the 21 years of its existence the art movement in Ikuntji has flourished and constantly left its mark in the fine art world. At the same time the art centre has been the cultural hub of the community, maintaining, reinforcing and reinvigorating cultural practices through art-making.

Today Ikuntji Artists has eight key artists, who exhibit in Australia and internationally. They are represented in major collections across the globe.

Text: Melanie Greiner, Alison Multa and Dr Chrischona Schmidt