Tjanpi Desert Weavers

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Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a social enterprise of the NPY Women's Council, [1] representing over 400 women from 26 unique communities [2] in the NPY (Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara) region. Tjanpi is the Pitjantjatjara word for a type of spinifex grass. The weavers harvest and weave local grasses and some other materials to create handmade works and pieces of art. [3] In producing these works, which mostly consist of baskets, jewellery, beads and fibre sculpture, the enterprise encourages women's employment and economic independence. [3]

Contents

History

Grass weaving is not a traditional pursuit in Central Australia, [4] but once shown the basics in 1995, [5] the women quickly applied their existing skills in spinning human hair, animal fur, string and wool. [3] By building on these existing skills, and working together, the Tjanpi weavers maintain a strong cultural connection and connection to each other and, as a part of the program, the women come together to collect grass for their art as well as hunt, gather food, visit sacred sites, perform inma (cultural song and dance), and teach younger people. [2]

The social enterprise of the work also enables the women to 'stay on Country' and, as one senior artist says: [1]

We don't have to leave our lands to be basket makers

— Paniny Mick, Tjanpi Desert Weavers

The Tjanpi have a public gallery in Alice Springs. [6]

Exhibitions and awards

Tjanpi Desert Weavers at the Know My Name exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. Tjanpi Desert Weavers.jpg
Tjanpi Desert Weavers at the Know My Name exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

The Tjanpi Desert Weavers are represented in national and international public and private art collections. [7] [8] In 2005 a collective of 18 artists won the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for their work Tjanpi Toyota. [9]

A collaborative work between Tjanpi Desert Weavers and artist Fiona Hall, Kuka Irititja (Animals from Another Time), originally created for the TarraWarra Biennia l, [10] formed part of the 2015 Venice Biennale. [11] [12] A major project with the National Museum of Australia, led to the work, Kungkarrangkalnga-ya Parrpakanu (The Seven Sisters Are Flying) in 2017. [13] [14]

A large-scale installation, telling the story of Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming) was commissioned as a feature of the National Gallery of Australia's 2020 Know My Name Exhibition. [15]

Artists

Tjanpi Desert Weaver artists include the following artists: [8]

Renowned Betty Muffler of Iwantja Arts has also made baskets for Tjanpi Desert Weavers. [18] [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pitjantjatjara</span> Aboriginal people of Central Australia

The Pitjantjatjara are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutitjulu</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aṉangu</span> Endonym used by members of several Aboriginal Australian groups close to the Western Desert bloc

Aṉangu is the name used by members of several Aboriginal Australian groups, roughly approximate to the Western Desert cultural bloc, to describe themselves. The term, which embraces several distinct "tribes" or peoples, in particular the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara groups, is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable:.

Australian Aboriginal astronomy is a name given to Aboriginal Australian culture relating to astronomical subjects – such as the Sun and Moon, the stars, planets, and the Milky Way, and their motions on the sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara</span> Local government area in South Australia

Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, also known as APY, APY Lands or the Lands, is a large, sparsely-populated local government area (LGA) for Aboriginal people, located in the remote north west of South Australia. Some of the Aṉangu (people) of the Western Desert cultural bloc, in particular Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra peoples, inhabit the Lands.

Indulkana is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands". At the 2016 Australian census, Indulkana had a population of 256.

The Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women's Council is a community-based community organisation formed in 1980 delivering services to the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara women in the central desert region of Australia across the borders of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia with its headquarters in Alice Springs. It provides a range of community, family, research and advocacy services.

Jimmy Donegan is an Aboriginal Australian artist. His painting Papa Tjukurpa munu Pukara won the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2010. He speaks Pitjantjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra. His work is held in several major private galleries in Australia and Europe; the only major public gallery to hold one of his works is the National Gallery of Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rene Kulitja</span>

Rene Kulitja, also known as Wanuny Kulitja, is an Aboriginal Australian artist. She works with a range of media, including paint, glass and ceramics. Her most famous design is probably Yananyi Dreaming, which covers a Qantas Boeing 737.

Tjayanka Woods is an Australian Aboriginal artist. She was one of the pioneers of the art movement across the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara lands, which began in 2000. She is best known for her paintings, but also a craftswoman who makes baskets and other woven artworks. Her paintings are held in the Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, and the National Gallery of Australia.

Eileen Yaritja Stevens was an Aboriginal artist from central Australia. Although she had brief career of less than four years, she quickly became one of the most successful artists of her generation to paint in the style of the Western Desert. Her work is now held in several major public art collections across Australia.

Imiyari "Yilpi" Adamson is an Aboriginal artist from central Australia. She is known for her work in a range of art forms, including painting, sculpture, weaving, knitting and batik.

Robin Kankapankatja is an Australian Aboriginal artist. He worked for most of his life as a labourer and conservationist. He is the manager and senior traditional owner of Walalkara, a homeland and Indigenous protected area on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. He began work as an artist in 2004, aged in his 70s. His artworks are now held in several major galleries in Australia.

Ngangkari are the traditional healers of the Anangu, the Aboriginal peoples who live mostly in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara of South Australia and the Western Desert region, which includes parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The word in the Arrernte languages of Central Australia is ngangkere. Ngangkari have been part of Aboriginal culture for thousands of years, and attend to the physical and psychic health of Anangu.

Maringka Tunkin is a Pitjantjatjara artist from Central Australia.

Pantjiti Unkari McKenzie is a senior Pitjantjatjara woman from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. She has worked as an artist, film maker, actor, teacher, oral historian and recorder of cultural heritage, Ngangkari and as a senior law woman in her community. In 2019, she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her “service to the Indigenous community of the Northern Territory”.

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Tuppy Ngintja Goodwin is an Aboriginal Australian artist from South Australia. She is a painter, and director of Mimili Maku Arts.

Nyurpaya Kaika Burton OAM is an artist and educator from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands of Central Australia.

Betty Muffler is an Aboriginal Australian artist and ngangkari (healer). She is a senior artist at Iwantja Arts, in Indulkana in Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, South Australia, known for a series of works on large linen canvases called Ngangkari Ngura .

References

  1. 1 2 "Tjanpi Desert Weavers". Tjanpi Desert Weavers. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Tjanpi Desert Weavers". NPY Women's Council. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Watson, Penny. (2012). Tjanpi desert weavers. Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council Aboriginal Corporation. Sydney: Macmillan Art Publishing. ISBN   9781921394461. OCLC   792762384.
  4. ↑ Flynn, Eugenia; Onus, Tiriki. "The Tjanpi Desert Weavers show us that traditional craft is art". The Conversation. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  5. ↑ Whiting, Natalie (1 October 2015). "Desert weaving puts food on tables in remote communities". ABC News. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Tjanpi Desert Weavers". Northern Territory. Tourism NT. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  7. ↑ Cerabona, Ron (25 May 2019). "Showing the songline of Seven Sisters and a shape-shifter". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Tjanpi Desert Weavers | MCA Australia". www.mca.com.au. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  9. ↑ "Tjanpi Toyota". NPY Women's Council. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  10. ↑ Eccles, Jeremy (5 May 2015). "Mitzevich goes bush". Aboriginal Art Directory. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  11. ↑ Biddle, Jennifer L. (2 October 2019). "Tjanpi Desert Weavers and the Art of Indigenous Survivance". Australian Feminist Studies. 34 (102): 413–436. doi:10.1080/08164649.2019.1697179.
  12. ↑ "A Minefield of Madness, Badness, and Sadness". Aboriginal Art Directory. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  13. ↑ "Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters". National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "Kungkarrangkalnga-ya Parrpakanu Seven Sisters are flying". ABC News. 14 September 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  15. ↑ Bell, Delia (9 October 2020). "Tjanpi Desert Weavers celebrated at National Art Gallery exhibition". NITV. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  16. 1 2 "Tjanpi Desert Weavers". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  17. ↑ Fairley, Gina (26 November 2020). "Vale: Michael Nelson Jagamara AM and Kunmanara Lewis". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  18. ↑ "Betty Muffler". Tjanpi Desert Weavers. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  19. ↑ Cole, Kelli; Hartshorn, Aidan (5 January 2021). "Betty Muffler: hope and healing". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 12 July 2021. This interview was first published in the Spring 2020 edition of Artonview.
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