After last year’s inaugural show at the new gallery location on Hill Street, ReDot Fine Art Gallery is extremely honoured to follow up with another show by the exciting Imelda (Yukenbarri) Gugaman. This time, her new body of works is accompanied by close family members from the remote Indigenous community of Balgo Hills and their community art centre known officially as Warlayirti Arts.
In this exhibition Imelda shares the artistic stage with Theresa, Geraldine, Madeline and Ann Nowee (all direct cousins of Imelda from her paternal side), all close collaborators in what has been an artistic Indigenous hotspot for over 20 years. This art centre is known as Balgo Arts, and continues to producing some of the most important Indigenous artists of all time.
Imelda and Family is a collection of 30 new works by this group of ladies and one very special collaborative work that fuses the relatives together, which is an explosion of colour and harmony as their respective tjukurpas (Dreaming stories) are delicately stitched together on one imposing canvas which traverses some of the most beautiful country in the south-eastern Kimberley region.
Imelda’s stunning and meticulously executed oeuvres of soft ochre colours are joined by bolder and more vivaciously coloured masterpieces by Theresa and Ann, whilst Geraldine and Madeline remind us all that the talent vein in this family is very deep and Imelda’s position as the doyenne is not to be taken for granted.
Works by the Nowee sisters are imbued with important stories that were bequeathed to them by their father, Brandy Tjungurrayi, who was an imposing man with far reaching ceremonial responsibilities in Balgo. He was the elder sibling of Helicopter Tjungurrayi, regarded as one of the most important living Indigenous artists.
Winpurpurla, Imelda’s sacred country is joined by Wirrimanu, Minyilpa, Yarki and Mungari – all important soakage or rockhole sites in and around the famous Canning Stock Route. All the works are an amazing affirmation of these artists’ painterly pointillism style. They bringing the viewer into a very remote landscape of Indigenous Australia, creating meandering, three dimensional topographical maps of the soakage waterhole sites of their beloved country.
The exhibition begins on Thursday 7th July and runs until Saturday 30th July 2016. It will be attended in person again by Imelda and this time with Ann Nowee, as they offer their country and its secrets to the Singaporean public. It is a must-see show for anyone interested in following the recent developments in Indigenous Art and an opportunity to meet two beautiful and talented proponents of one of the world’s oldest art forms.
When: 7 - 30 Jul 2016, 12:00 - 19:00