This exhibition highlights works from two central desert communities on the Tanami Track,  Yuendumu, 300kms northwest of Alice Springs and Balgo, 830kms northwest of Alice Springs, where two French anthropologists Francoise Dussart and Barbara Gloweiski have been working and conducting research for over 30 years. Painting was introduced to these communities soon after it started in nearby Papunya in 1972. The first paintings materials introduced were watercolours and as was the case in Papunya only the men were authorized to paint.

It was not  until 1984 that the women of Yuendumu and Balgo got involved. By then the brighter, stronger colours of acrylic paint had been introduced and the women were motivated to paint and sell work.

In 1985 the art centre Warlukurlangu in  Yuendumu  was established. In the Walpiri language Warlukurlangu means  “belonging to fire”. The Warlayirti arts centre in Balgo was established in 1987. Both art centres support best practice and follow the regulated ethical codes of the Indigenous art industry.

Gestuelles explores three trends in the women’s painting practice:

  1. The gestures of tradition which unite the community around a common past.
  2. The gestures of connection to the Western world using acrylic paints in aesthetic compositions which allude  customary Aboriginal practices and creation stories.
  3. The gestures of liberated women artists who express their individuality as well as their connection to community.

Gestuelles celebrates the bold colours and energy of the very creative women painters of central desert communities and their place in the world of traditional and contemporary art.

Catherine Hickson, Assistant Curator