ReDot Fine Art Gallery is honoured to host a very special show, the culmination of a series of workshops held in 2012 and early 2013 at the Jirtirlparnta Learning Centre Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Nyirripi.

Jirtirlparnta Heart - The Nyirripi Workshops, derives its name from a purple flower common to this area coincidently, it is also an alternate name for the place where the community of Nyirripi is located and the workshops took place.

The community is approximately 440 km from Alice Springs by road and it takes 5 to 6 hours to drive there. Travelling from Alice Springs via Yuendumu and the Tanami Highway, Nyirripi is approximately 150 kilometres west-southwest of this icon Aboriginal Art Community which helps service the artistic needs of the community.

With an estimated population of 242, this Warlpiri, Pintupi and Kutkatja language cluster exists in large part due to the art practices, with over 60 regular painters attending the community centre in what has become the “social” hub of the outstation.

The workshops were the brainchild of the Warlukurlangu Art centre and Hannah “Nangala” Quinliven, whom herself grew up in Nyirripi as a young girl, speaking Warlpiri long before she could speak English. An accomplished artist in her own right, Nangala has been assisting the Yeundumu and Nyirripi communities for many years and this body of work is a culmination of many weeks and months of discussion and debate with the artists to create a body of work to assist in the telling of “their story”, in a mix of designs and colour made famous by artists of this part of the Australian outback.

Ancient stories have been re-painted, new approaches introduced, excitement created in the small community as the results of their labour became apparent over the many months the works were produced. Several collaborative works allowed culture-sharing to occur, re-connecting people with their lands and their struggles to live in harmony with the surrounding country.

The show will be officially opened by travelling artists Teddy Jakamarra Gibson, Gayle Napangardi Gibson, Christine Nakamarra Curtis and her sister Magda Nakamarra Curtis accompanied by Nagala, all eager to share their country and their stories with the Singaporean public.

Image: © Magda Nakamarra Curtis, ReDot Gallery