Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists

Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists, or Mwerre Anthurre, is an Aboriginal Art Centre based in Alice Springs. It was established in 2000 to encourage, nurture and support Aboriginal artists with disabilities and the organisation focuses on empowerment through art.[1][2]

Artists working with Mwerre Anthurre come from around Central Australia but most live in Alice Springs, often due to the need to access appropriate medical services, and the painting process allows them to express themselves and their connection to their home country.[3]

History

Mwerre Anthurre developed out of The Bindi Centre, which opened in 1976[4] and sought to provide employment and community engagement to people with disabilities. In the 1990s, when working in the workshop, Billy Benn Perrurle started painting on off-cuts of timber and metal and Mwerre Anthurre was founded in order support his talent.[5][3][6]

Mwerre Anthurre is an Australian Disability Enterprise and receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FAHCSIA). Additional funds are also raised by the sale of work, following commissions given to the artists.[1]

In 2011, Mwerre Anthurre won the Northern Territory Chief Minister's Award For Excellence in Inclusive Practice by Aboriginal Arts Centres.[7]

Exhibitions and critical assessment

Artworks produced by the collective's painters hang in public galleries, including the National Gallery of Australia,[7] and have been exhibited nationally.[8][9][10] Mwerre Anthurre Artists who have been publicly exhibited include Adrian Robertson and Billy Tjampijinpa Kenda, both selected for inclusion in the 2018 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.[11] Robertson won an Alice Springs mayoral award for his artwork undertaken through Mwerre Anthurre, and was also a finalist in the Alice Prize, a central Australian art competition.[12]

Reviewers have commented on the quality of the works of individual artists, linking them to the art collective. Chris Raja observed that the works from Mwerre Anthurre Artists, alongside those from other Desart member art centres, "showed once again that the force of creativity among the original desert-abiding people continues unabated".[13] Reviewing a Melbourne exhibition for The Age, Patrick Hutchings observed "works from Bindi Inc. Mwerre Anthurre Artists, NT...Billy Benn Perrurle, Billy Kenda Tjampitjinpa and Adrian Robertson Jangala, whose Western Perspective views of hills and clouds recall - and in their own way equal - works of early Modernism."[14] Curator Hetti Perkins, in her major review One Sun One Moon,[15] wrote:

"the Mwerre Anthurre artists have forged an idiosyncratic interpretation of the classic landscape genre, envisioning the heart of Australia in calligraphic sweeps that capture a dramatic play of colour and light."

Artists

Mwerre Anthurre have supported many successful artists including;

  • Adrian Robertson[11]
  • Billy Penn Perrurle[7]
  • Billy Tjampijinpa Kenda[11]
  • Cathy Peckham
  • Charles Inkamala
  • Conway Ginger[16][17]
  • Jane Mervin
  • Lance James
  • Seth Namatjira[18]
  • Kukula McDonald[19]

Billy Tjampijinpa Kenda says of himself, and his fellow artists:[20]

“We all paint different places’ stories… Adrian painting some country, Jane, he painting some tjulpu (birds), Conway draws anything - people, faces. Charles draws Hermannsburg, Lance draws horses - maybe from Docker River. I’m painting all them cars. Kukula paints all Cockatoos - he like Cockatoos…”

— Billy Tjampijinpa Kenda, Bindi Enterprises

References
  1. "Bindi Inc. Mwerre Anthurre Artists". aarts.net.au. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  2. Rothwell, Nicolas (25 April 2006). "Shifting landscapes". The Australian; Canberra. p. 14.
  3. "About". Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  4. Find & Connect Web Resource Project, The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University. "The Bindi Centre - Organisation - Find & Connect - Northern Territory". www.findandconnect.gov.au. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  5. "Billy Benn". Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  6. Rothwell, Nicolas (26 March 2004). "Barriers given the brush". The Australian; Canberra. p. 17.
  7. Brooks, Sally (13 December 2011). "Bindi-run art group rewarded". The Centralian Advocate.
  8. "Visual Arts". The Advertiser; Adelaide. 9 September 2006. p. W16.
  9. Clayfield, Matthew (26 April 2010). "OUT & ABOUT - QUEENSLAND". The Australian; Canberra. p. 14.
  10. "HOT SEAT". Weekend Australian; Canberra. 29 October 2005. p. 19.
  11. "Adrian's art is a shining light". The Northern Territory News. 3 December 2018.
  12. Price, Jack. "Landscape painter a deserving award winner". The Centralian Advocate (7 Dec 2018).
  13. Raja, Chris (Summer 2012). "'Roads for community': Desert Mob 2012". Art Monthly Australia (256): 92–93.
  14. Hutchings, Patrick (14 January 2006). "Life and the spirit in which it is lived". The Age.
  15. Perkins, Hetty (2000). One Sun One Moon. Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales. p. 13. ISBN 0-7347-6360-3.
  16. Rothwell, Nicolas (13 September 2012). "Desert Mob lays out the legacy". The Australian; Canberra. p. 15.
  17. Robertson, Jim (24 June 2016). "Feted artist shows portraits at Bindi". The Centralian Advocate; Alice Springs. p. 33.
  18. "Artists". Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  19. Rothwell, Nicolas (11 April 2008). "The dark wings of desire". The Australian; Canberra. p. 14.
  20. "About - Bindi Enterprises". bindienterprises.org.au. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
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