Colour from the Australian Desert

JGM Gallery presents 24 paintings, all vibrant acrylics on linen or canvas, by seven Aboriginal artists from the Warlpiri people in Australia's central desert region -  some of the most celebrated Aboriginal artists in Australia's Northern Territory. The artists, all women, created their works at the Indigenous-owned art centre in the Lajamanu community, on the edge of the Tanami Desert, halfway between Alice Springs and Darwin.

The exhibition coincides with the launch of the UK/Australia Season, organised jointly by the British Council and the Australian Government. The Season explores and celebrates the diversity of cultures and languages in both countries and runs from September 2021 until December 2022.

The paintings are rich in free-flowing brushwork, vibrant colours, symbolic shapes, as well as the use of mark making (dots, patterns, lines and textures), which characterises the abstract nature of Aboriginal art. Each painting is a bird's eye view of the artist's ancestral land, or Country, as told in the Dreaming, the Aboriginal stories and beliefs passed down through the generations. Every generation becomes a custodian of their Dreaming, and the artists often sing their Dreaming stories while they paint, as a way of keeping their links with Country alive.

The Dreamings featured in the works that make up the Colour From the Australian Desert exhibition depict stories about animals (from flocks of budgerigars to the black-headed python), seeds and plants (used for food and medicinal purposes) and the ceremonies performed by the Warlpiri women. Everything relates to Country.