Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre

Founded in 2004 in Mparntwe, Northern Territory, Australia

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We are proud our fathers were a part of the original Hermannsburg Watercolour Movement and now, generations on we are still painting together, carrying on this same tradition.

– Iltja Ntjarra Artists

Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre is a not-for-profit art centre, proudly Aboriginal owned and directed. The centre has a special focus on supporting the ‘Hermannsburg School’-style watercolour artists, who continue to paint in the tradition of their grandfather and relative, Albert Namatjira, arguably one of Australia’s most famous artists of the 20th century. The Art Centre started operating in 2004 to provide a place for Western Aranda artists to come together to paint, share and learn new techniques and ideas.

The artists painting at Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre today do so with an eye to the future and the past, thereby closing a loop. Over the past ten years, Iltja Ntjarra artists have consistently experimented with new materials, methods, source material, processes and scale. In recent projects, their work has been transformed into fashion and incorporated into light projections. They have developed a strong collaborative practice and asserted a powerful political voice. This has all been done with a continued commitment to create landscape paintings of their beloved country in the style of Albert Namatjira.

Iltja Ntjarra’s project for the 23rd Biennale of Sydney is co-curated by Marisa Maher working closely with the Artistic Director and Curatorium of the 23rd Biennale of Sydney.

Participants:

Mervyn Rubuntja

Born 1958 in Telegraph Station, Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Australia Lives and works Mparntwe (Alice Springs) Central and Western Aranda

Selma Coulthard

Born 1954 in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Australia Lives and works Mparntwe (Alice Springs) Western and Southern Aranda

Vanessa Inkamala

Born 1968 in Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Australia Lives and works Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Australia Western Aranda

Kathy Inkamala

Born 1968 in Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Australia Lives and works Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Australia Western Aranda

Dellina Inkamala

Born 1984 in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Australia Lives and works Mparntwe (Alice Springs) Western Aranda

Clara Inkamala

Born 1954 in Ntaria (Hermannsburg) Lives and works Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Australia Western Aranda