Ikuntji Artists acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the Country on which Ikuntji stands, and pays respect to Elders past and present.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are advised that this website may contain images, voices, names and artworks of people who have passed away.
Ikuntji Artists
Ikuntji Artists is one of the first Indigenous art centres in the Western Desert created by women for women. This project is about the unheard voices of the Western Desert art movement. It aims at capturing the biographies of these artists and their descendants in audio, film and photography.
Portraits taken of Dolcy Roberts and Billy Pareroultja as a part of the Photography Workshops led by Tobias Titz.
Over past years, Ikuntji Artists has invested into researching the history of the community, re-writing the biographies of artists in their own voices and tracing the history of the art movement. This was funded through project funding by ILA — Indigenous Languages and Arts. The projects were completed in a multimedia format: from interviews and written biographies to films in language and photography.
In 2018, Ikuntji Artists hosted two workshops with photographer and filmographer Tobias Titz. In a series of workshops arts workers and artists from Ikuntji Artists experimented with the medium of photography. Renowned photographer Tobias Titz guided the artists and arts workers through the process and focused in particular on portraits of the artists. As part of the workshops artists created etchings about their country.
Artists and community members participating in Photography workshop. Photo: Tobias Titz and Ikuntji Artists
Virgilia Multa. Photo: Tobias Titz and Ikuntji Artists
Bundie Rowe. Photo: Tobias Titz and Ikuntji Artists
Susie Lane. Photo: Tobias Titz and Ikuntji Artists
Ikuntji Artists have also been recording artists’ life stories in film and interviews since 2017. These feature artists telling their stories in their own words, and in Pintupi-Luritja, Pitjantjatjara and Walpiri. These videos have captured the stories of many important artists and community leaders who have since passed away.
Alison Multa, My Story. Video: Alison Multa, Chrischona Schmidt, Tobias Titz, Christian Koch
Keturah Zimran, My Story. Video: Keturah Zimran, Chrischona Schmidt, Tobias Titz, Christian Koch
Tobias Titz films Alison Multa on Country. Photo: Chrischona Schmidt, Ikuntji
As part of this project, Ikuntji Artists have also been working with artists to record important cultural sights on country in and around Haasts Bluff. The project also aims to help bring artists back to important sites through ‘bush trips’ (camping).
A large part of the art centre’s work is archival. It includes but is not limited to recording the stories associated with each artwork, biographies and the keeping of a photographic database. This archive is accessible to artists and community members and is an important vehicle for intergenerational knowledge transfer.
This project was funded through project funding by ILA — Indigenous Languages and Arts.
Ikuntji Artists welcomes the generous support of donors to help ensure its programs and projects flourish. We rely on these donations to successfully provide services to the art centre and its member artists.
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