Ngarralja is a Wangkatjunga / Walmajarri man. He was born in the Great Sandy Desert and he was taught how to hunt and kill his own meat before he had any contact with kartiya (Europeans).
Born about 1935 at Yarrnkurnja, Great Sandy Desert
He is now referred to as karrayili which means middle aged person. He is not yet an elder but he has been given the job as spokesman by his old people. He is fluent in both Wangkatjunga and Walmajarri languages as well as English. He also writes Walmajarri. He was one of the first people to start up the Karrayili Adult Education centre because he wanted to learn to read and write his own language and English.
He is an important person for arts and culture business here in Fitzroy Crossing. He dances and sings Kurtal , a ceremony relating to a main jila (living waterhole) in his country. He is also a painter and printmaker.
He lives with his wife and nine children at Mindi Rardi Community, Fitzroy Crossing.
Exhibition History: Group Shows
1993 Images of Power; Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley
National Gallery of Victoria
1994 Ngajakura Ngurrara Minyarti,this is my country
Festival of Perth Exhibition
Artplace Gallery, Claremont
1995 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Museum and Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
Selected to tour nationally with the first NATSIAA travelling exhibition
1995 Fremantle Print Award
Fremantle Art Centre
1995 Prints from the APW Collection
Survey show of recent works from the APW archive
Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne
1996 MangkajAPW
Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide
1996 Heritage Commission Art Award
Old Parliament House Canberra
1996 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Museum and Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
1996 Fremantle Print Award
Fremantle Art Centre
1997 Heritage Commission Art Award
Old Parliament House Canberra
1998 Mangkaja
Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1999 Story Boards Ceramic tiles from the Kimberley
Fremantle Art Centre
2000 Cutting Comments: Contemporary Lino cut Prints 1995 -98
Silk Cut Award travelling exhibition
2000 Proof Positive
Gold Treasury Museum, Melbourne
2000 People in a Landscape: Contemporary Australian Prints
Cultural Centre of the Phillipines, Manila
2000 Fremantle Print Award
Fremantle Art Centre
2001 Ngurrara Canvas
National Gallery of Australia
2001 ImpressionsI An exhibititon of prints
Coomalie Culture Centre / Batchelor NT
2001 18th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territiory
2001 Mangkaja Arts Ten Years On Mangkaja’s10 year Anniversary Show
Tandanya, Adelaide
2002 Native Title Business Contemporary Indigenous Art
National Travelling Exhibition
2002 The 16th Asian International Art Exhibition
Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou, China
2002 Group Show
Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Murrkunkura Ngarrangkarnijangka Ngurrara; Three men’s countries from the Dreamtime
Raft Artspace Darwin
2003 Jila jumu jiwari & wirrkuja
Cullity Gallery , University of Western Australia
2004 This is Still My Country:10 years on Perth International Arts Festival
Artplace, Perth
2004 Ngurrara Canvas
Perth International Arts Festival Perth Concert Hall
2004 Broken Promises
Short Street Gallery, Broome
Awards:
1994 Third Prize, Heritage Commission Art Award
1995 Runner-up in the Fremantle Print Award
1999 Residency Carlton College Northfield Minnesota and Kennesaw State University, USA
2001 WA International Artists Workshop Walpole WA
Publications
1994 Ngajakura Ngurrara Minyarti, This Is My Country
Exhibition Catalogue
1998 Jila Painted Waters of the Great Sandy Desert
Video Documentary / SBS Television
2000 Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art
Oxford University Press & ANU
2000 Karrayili The history of Karrayili Adult Education Centre
IATSIS Canberra
2001 Painting Up Big, The Ngurrara Canvas
Kaltja Now National Aboriginal Cultural Institute – Tandanya
2001 18th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territiory
2002 Native Title Business Contemporary Indigenous Art
ed Joan Winter Gurang Land Council / Regional Galleries Assn Qld
2002 Kurtal; Snake Spirit
Video Documentary / ABC Television
2003 Australian Art Collector
Review / Maurice O’Riordan
2003 Martuwarra and Jila, Jumu, Jiwari and Wirrkuja
Exhibition Catalogue Cullity Gallery UWA Perth / Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency
2003 The Painted Desert The Fate of an Aboriginal Masterpiece
New Yorker Magazine July 28, 2003
Collections:
National Gallery of Victoria
Curtin University Collection
Queensland State Gallery
Berndt Museum of Anthropology
Australian Print Workshop
Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University
Carleton College Art Collection, Northfield Minnesota
Kennesaw State University, Atlanta Georgia
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