Eunice Napanangka Jack, Winbarrku, 97x70cm

The painting depicts the dreaming from Eunice's mother side who is Warlpiri, at Winbarrku. It shows the flowers in the desert, the Tali (sandhills) and the site of the Dreaming, the rockhole.

Eunice was born in 1940 at Lupul in the Sir Frederick Ranges. When Eunice was a little girl, and like so many other Aboriginal families at the time, shortages of food forced her family east towards the ration stations being set up in central Australia. She remembers the travels with her family very vividly and refers to it as when her mother carried her piggy back all the way from Western Australia to Haasts Bluff.

Now an important woman in the community Eunice is well known for her hunting skills, dancing and traditional law knowledge. Eunice started painting with the opening of the Ikuntji Women’s Centre in August of 1992. Prior to that during the 1970s she assisted her husband Gideon Tjupurrula Jack who was painting at Papunya Tula. Eunice’s paintings are interpretations of her country near Lake Mackay. She uses layers of colour to build up a vision of the bush flowers and grasses. Amongst this landscape Eunice’s personal stories are told, either of the travelling of her tjukurrpa – the Bilby – or the people who once lived in the area. Her father was Tutuma Tjapangarti, one of the first men to paint for Papunya Tula. Eunice also paints his country, which includes Tjukurla, Tjila, Kurulto and Lupul. Her mother was from the Walpiri side of Lake Mackay – Winparrku – in Western Australia. A brilliant colourist, Eunice’s Hairstring, Tali (sandhill), Mungada (apple) and wildflower paintings display great talent and dedication to her profession and traditions. Her Hairstring works are made up of thousands of varied colour strokes, representing the hair being rolled on women’s thighs to make bags and clothing. Her Mungada (apple) works hold myriad dusted mauve circles overlaying the ground of varicoloured-feathered brushwork. Highly collectable, Eunice is represented in leading galleries worldwide.

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