Rhonda Napanangka, The Ghan going to Darwin, 40x40cm

• Artist - Rhonda Napanangka
• Community - Alice Springs 
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Tangentyere Artists  
• Catalogue number - 7295-15
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H40 W40 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched and ready to hang

The Ghan going to Darwin

Rhonda was born at Papunya. Her mother's country is Karrinyarra (Central Mt Wedge) side and her father's country is Broken Windmill, west of Central Mt Wedge. Rhonda's father's name was Charlie Japangardi of the Yantarrju clan of Central Mt Wedge, while her mother is Elizabeth Nampitjinpa of the Karrinyarra clan. Elizabeth paints with Tangentyere Artists also. Rhonda has painted for a long time and lives in Alice Springs with her two daughters and three sons. Rhonda has been painting since she was a young girl, as she learned from her uncle, Clifford Possum Japaljarri at Mburngurra, Narwietooma and other family Outstations. Rhonda's favourite story is her mother's brother's story at Mt Wedge. This is a private story, but relates to Kapi - Water Jukurrpa. Rhonda also paints figurative landscapes, full of adventures like playing in waterholes and riding horses and donkeys. Rhonda's style is incredibly neat in her application and the colours she chooses create elegant works filled with rhythm and repetition that delight her audience.

Representing Aboriginal people from Town Camps, Tangentyere Artists is the only Aboriginal owned, not-for-profit painting studio and gallery in Alice Springs.

Figurative narrative paintings are the Tangentyere Artists’ signature style. By documenting sites and activities familiar to them, Town Camp artists afford their audience insight into their personal histories and everyday lives.

Accordingly, cultural and historical subject matter coexist with scenes of contemporary, urban life. This illuminates the artists’ intimate knowledge and negotiation of both worlds, a duality not well known or represented elsewhere.

The artists detail sites of cultural significance in country, the undertaking of cultural activity, scenes from outstations and recollections of pastoral experiences and mission days. Also represented are the day-to-day affairs of Town Camps; kangaroo tail cooking in the fire, children playing, families talking stories, drinking, playing cards and fixing cars.

Interactions with local police, service providers and townspeople are also intimately documented, with the backdrops revealing urban locations where people congregate, such as the Todd River bed or public lawns. Importantly, these scenes expose a complex temporal order and marginalised realities not well understood by mainstream consciousness.

The choice of subject matter and the way artists choose to illustrate it unwittingly challenges the orthodoxy of Aboriginal art. From behind the veil of more popular representations of Tjukurrpa emerge the actualities of everyday life for Aboriginal people in Central Australia.