Songlines XXXV

About

The exhibition unites works by indigenous artists, including renowned tapa cloth maker Ilma Ugiobari (Savari) (b.c. 1969), and painters Elizabeth Nyumi Nungarrayi (c. 1947-2009), Turkey Tolsen Tjupurrula (c.1938 - 2001), and Nyuju Stumpy Brown (c.1924 - 2011). Using layered visual vocabularies, the artists in Songlines tell dreamtime stories of their heritage combined with a reverential treatment of the landscapes that surround them. Preserving a 40,000-year-old legacy of image-making, the artists take care to honour the past while adding techniques learned from contemporary Australian society.

The varied media used in the exhibition is bound by the sophistication of colour, symbology, and emotional depth found in each work. Highly atmospheric, the works are imbued with deep hunter green, burnt umber and warm ochre – an earthy visual tale of desert, people, land, and sky. While certain paintings, like Carol Young’s Ngura Tjuta: Big Country - Carol, 2022 employs a graphic style, incorporating circles, lines, and dots, others, like Turkey Tolsen Tjupurrula (c.1938 - 2001)’s painting, Turkey's Father, n.d. are more personal and representational. The strength of their collective belief systems and styles is heightened by the way the exhibition sings together in a chorus of layered meaning. An immersive experience with indigenous cultures, Songlines pays tribute to these under-recognized artists and the power of cross-cultural exploration.