SLIDESHOW From the on-going brilliance of artists from The Lands, in the far north of South Australia, to the delightful evolution of the soft sculpture coming out of Larapinta Valley town camp in Alice Springs and the many shades of achievement in between, Desert Mob shows once again that the drive to creativity amongst Aborigines of the desert is unabated.
The exhibition, in its 21st year, keeps with its firmly established tradition of huge diversity: dazzling paintings of the highest order, drawing on ancient sacred traditions and knowledge, alongside naive works that charm with their view of contemporary Aboriginal life; fine art alongside crafts; refined crafts alongside those more simply, even crudely yet expressively fashioned. KIERAN FINNANE reviews.
Opening night (above): the soft sculptures of the Larapinta Valley town camp artists were much admired. In the background are the dazzling paintings from Tjala Arts, based at Amata in the APY Lands.
Slideshow: Wanampi Tjukurpa by Tiger Palpatja • Wati Wilu-Ku Inma Tjukurpa by Dickie Minyintiri • Soft sculptures by Yarrenyty Arltere artists • Hermannsburg Potters celebrate country music • Bush Pig by a Greenbush artist • Ngaanyatjarra Council's 30th Birthday Party by Jean Yinalanka Burke • Malilanya, ceramic by Renita Stanley • Walu by Carol Maanyatja Golding • Images courtesy Araluen, the artists and the art centres.
SLIDESHOW In colloquial speech, to souvenir something means to steal it. This is the drift of some of the objects created for Souvenir, an exhibition at Watch This Space, the Space's show for the Alice Desert Festival. It "explores the wilds of central Australia via the imagery of keepsake". KIERAN FINNANE reviews.
Pictured above: Shaken, Rattled and Rolled by Jane Leonard – souvenirs of life-changing moments instead of geographical places.
Slideshow: Alice Springs – Bleeding Heart Central, detail of map by Franca Barraclough and Beth Sometimes • Cultural AppropriApron by Hannah-May Caspar • The Sorry Souvenir Phenomenon, detail, by Beth Sometimes • Toile de jouy – The fabric of life, detail, by Mel Darr • Littel Well by Jane Young • "I've been to Alice Springs but I've never been to me" by Jane Leonard • Shaken, Rattled and Rolled by Jane Leonard • A Keepsake for the Local by Kim Webeck • No Snow Dome – The East Side Pole (left) and No Snow Dome – Flynn's Grave, both by Dan Murphy.