Browsing Category
Arts
41 posts
Shining a light on First Nations stories and culture
Balanggarra and Yolŋu artist Molly Hunt's mission is to show how loved, beautiful and strong Indigenous women are. Her Three Generations of Station Women installation at Parrtjima Festival in Alice Springs aims to do just that. Capturing the attention of thousands of festival goers with the animation and accompanying musical score, composed by Nyikina actor Mark Coles-Smith, it is a tribute to three generations of Aboriginal stockwomen. "This is a story that praises Blak women, that celebrates Blak women that shows they are staunch and have this intergenerational strength and power that's always been there and will always continue," Hunt…
NT:Timelessness of culture celebrated in light and stories
Ancient stories, songlines and landscapes are the centrepiece of a 10-day festival lighting up Australia's outback. Parrtjima, held in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), celebrates Aboriginal culture and art under the vast central Australian skies. Timelessness is the theme for this year's Parrtjima festival, which curator Rhoda Roberts said draws attention to the continuation and strength of Aboriginal culture and stories, particularly those of the local Arrente people. "Sadly in the 21st century people often only see the deficit, but man we're telling stories that our ancestors told," Roberts told AAP. "They're the same stories just expressed in different ways. That's timelessness."…
Festival shines light on age old traditions through art
The works of more than 20 First Nations artist will illuminate the night at an Indigenous light festival. Music, comedy, workshops and talks are also om the lineup for the 10th iteration of Parrtjima - A Festival in Light, in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Four new installations will be added to the immersive art offering, including Molly Hunt's Three Generations of Station Women, Bobby West Tjupurrula's Hypnotic Reverberations and Lyall Giles' Transforming Light & Country. Towering poles, created by artists from Alice Springs three estate groups - Antulye, Irlpme and Mparntwe - will welcome visitors to the grounds, standing tall at the…
Beloved Red Centre national park given heritage listing
A national park in Australia's Red Centre that's home to Kings Canyon and an important Indigenous cultural site has been placed on the federal heritage list. Watarrka National Park, 300km west of Alice Springs, sits on the traditional lands of the Anangu Aboriginal people. The group has a deep connection to the site and has cared for the Tjukurrpa/the dreaming for tens of thousands of years and it continues to be a place where Anangu traditions, customs and beliefs are handed down from generation to generation. The park has also been recognised for its abundance and diversity of native plants…
Musician named NT Australian of the Year
A musician who has become a cultural ambassador on the world stage has been recognised as the Australian of the Year in the Northern Territory. Grant Ngulmiya Nundhirribala, an internationally recognised musician, who is also a cultural leader in Numbulwar community, Arnhem Land, received the award at a ceremony at the Darwin Convention Centre on Monday night. Nundhirribala, 49, has inspired Numbulwar's next generation to excel at performing their traditional music and dance, showing them how to earn an income from expressing their internationally esteemed culture, in a place where employment is scarce. Bridging cultural differences, he has been an…
First Nations designs head to India in art exchange
Ancient practices from across the Indian Ocean could preserve stories decaying in a remote Northern Territory community on the Arafura coast. The Bábbarra Women's Centre sits amid bauxite boulders on a pandanus-lined shore next to turquoise waters. It is on Kunibídji country, 500km east of Darwin, where a small group of women create textiles that tell their stories of life, animals, flowers and the yawkyawk, the mermaid spirit. Since the centre opened in the late 1980s as a women's refuge, it has been a place for economic and cultural security for women and children in Maningrida. "It's beautiful there," said Bangardidjan Cindy…
Modelling icon helps next generation hit the runway
When young Indigenous models stride down the catwalk, they are walking in the footsteps of Elaine George. At the age of 17, George was the first Aboriginal model to make the cover of Vogue Australia, in September 1993. It launched an international career, but one that lasted only 18 months, as the young model grappled with racism that was rife at the time. More than 30 years later, George is shaping a different future for the next generation of aspiring Indigenous models by hosting a workshop at the Darwin Convention Centre. The Blaklist: Next Gen modelling workshop is the first…
Crowds descend on art fair as artists face cost hikes
For artist Angelina Boona from Kalumburu, the northernmost settlement in Western Australia, it was a two-day drive to the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. But the long trip has been worth it - Boona has already sold some artworks and is enjoying being in the city. "We love coming to Darwin and seeing all the people," she told AAP. "It's like we are all a big family - we come together through our artworks." The 2024 event features art from more than 70 Indigenous-owned art centres including the first art organisation from NSW to participate - Malang Indigenous Corporation from the…
Long road to Australia’s top Aboriginal art award
Artist Noli Rictor, possibly the youngest "first contact" Aboriginal person in Australia, has won the nation's most prestigious award for Indigenous art. From Tjuntjuntjara in Western Australia, Rictor has won the $100,000 Telstra Art Award for his three-metre-high painting titled Kamanti. "Winning has made me really happy, really proud... I painted this big painting here," the Pitjantjatjara man told reporters via a translator, at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin. He wants to buy a new car with the winnings - the community of Tjuntjuntjara is so remote that it was a 25-hour drive to Alice Springs to catch…
Song spirals of ancestors will be heard in new work
Choreographer Rosealee Pearson's dance piece Song Spirals, premiering at the upcoming Darwin Festival, began with a book she couldn't put down. Song Spirals: Sharing Women's Wisdom of Country through Songlines, was the joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for nonfiction in 2020. It provides an unprecedented insight into the traditional songlines of women from the Yolngu people from North East Arnhem Land. Written by the Gay'wu group of women, which includes Pearson's mother and aunties, Pearson read Song Spirals cover to cover in one sitting. "This is probably one of the most important books that everybody in Australia…