Artwork by Dawn Ngala Wheeler, Hermannsburg Potters. June 2020. Photo: Devris Hasan., Desart.

Art Centres on Screen 2020

Story-telling direct from the desert

Throughout the year, Desart travelled across the regions to member art centres to record and capture art centres’ achievements, developments and contemporary practices through film.

Speaking from Country, artists share the stories of their work, culture and communities. Be transported by the achievements, stories and lives of these featured artists and art centres, providing a glimpse into the diversity of Aboriginal storytelling and contemporary artistic practice across our regions.

Hear from the ladies of Hermannsburg Potters in Western Aranda country as they reflect on everyday life through their vibrant handmade pots and song, Iltja Ntjarra artist Mervyn Rubuntja talks about the “Hermannsburg School” style of watercolour and the artists who continue to paint in the tradition of their grandfather and relative, the famous great Australian Aboriginal Artist of the 20th Century Albert Namatjira. Artists from the home of the Western Desert Art Movement at Papunya Tjupi take us into their painting spaces while two members of the Tennant Creek Brio discuss the space where traditional and contemporary meet and their continual struggle to maintain cultural identity. You will also hear from Marisa Maher, an emerging curator from Iltja Ntjarra and a long-term project of the Ikuntji Artists around the identification of Luritja objects in national and international museum collections with the aim of seeking repatriation.