Martumili Ngurra - Our Country - Aboriginal Contemporary

Aboriginal Contemporary's latest exhibition is Martumili's only exhibition in Sydney this year. This stunning show, hand-picked by gallery owner Nichola Dare on a recent trip to the Western Desert, pays homage not only to Martumili's senior and emerging artists, but also to the vast beauty of Martu Country - from Jigalong in the West to Kunawarritji in the East.

Martu aritsts are masters of colour, gesture and subtlety, and their work is much sought-after by private and institutional collectors from around the world. Their bold, evocative paintings echo the sand hills, Spinifex, water holes and shimmering salt lakes of their ancestors' County. They paint to record and pass down the stories of their Country, in the knowledge that their works will travel far and wide and in doing so will be kept alive. In the words of Martumili artist and film maker, Curtis Taylor: "If the stories are lost the Country is lost. And if the Country is lost the people are lost."

Following a sell out-exhibition with Martumili in 2018, Nichola visited Newman WA, in August of this year to select works for this exhibition. From Newman, she travelled a further 1,500kms east, across the Great Sandy Desert to the tiny community of Kunawarritji, home of the legendary artist Bugai Whyoulter. Nichola says "I have represented Bugai's work for nearly 10 years, but I had never had the opportunity to meet her in person. So, to sit with Bugai in the art shed at Kunawarritji, on her Country, and watch her paint her Country was an experience that will stay with me forever."

MARTUMILI NGURRA - OUR COUNTRY opens at Aboriginal Contemporary on 24 October 6pm - 8pm and runs until 3 November.

View exhibition catalogue HERE.

Artwork by Mulyatingki Marney 121cm x 91cm Acrylic on Linen