Tjina Nurna-ka, Pmarra Nurna-kanha, Itla Itla Nurna-kanha: Our Family, Our Country, Our Legacy

March 18 - April 26, 2020

This exhibition of works by Western Aranda watercolourists associated with Ntaria (Hermannsburg) pays tribute to the enduring legacy of famed artist Albert Namatjira. In a dialogue across generations, the exhibition features recent and decade old paintings drawn primarily from practicing artists of Iltja Ntarra Many Hands Art Centre in Alice Springs.

This exhibition is the outcome of a collaboration between Flinders University Museum of Art and Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre for Tarnanthi: festival of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. In partnership with the Art Gallery of South Australia, the collaboration supported Tarnanthi curator-in-residence Marisa Maher to develop an exhibition that responds to the State’s collections of historic watercolours and the legacy of Albert Namatjira. Drawn from practising artists of Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and the collections of Flinders University Museum of Art, Art Gallery of South Australia and South Australian Museum, the exhibition features recent and decades-old paintings in a dialogue across generations.

Curated by Marisa Maher, Nic Brown and Madeline Reece, Tjina Nurna-ka, Pmarra Nurna-kanha, Itla Itla Nurna-kanha: Our Family, Our Country, Our Legacy is displayed across two sites: Flinders University Museum of Art and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

This initiative, led by archaeologist and art historian JVS Megaw, provided the first comprehensive scholarship on the art, life and legacy of famed Western Aranda artist Albert Namatjira.

Vanessa Inkamala, Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges

Noreen Hudson at work in the Iltja Ntjarra Art Centre in Alice Springs