Exhibition Insight... Nurna yaarna iltjerrama. Nurna kutatha mpaarama!
Helen wearing YAA Dillybag Shirt (pink and green); Shanita wearing YAA Dillybag Shirt (yellow) and Trudy Inkamala Silk Scarf, 2021. Photo: Nina Fitzgerald. © Yarrenyty Arltere Artists
Words by Rebecca Freezer.
“The dye pots are full. The manikins are draped in painted and stitched fabrics. It’s fun and exciting for us!” Yarrenyty Arltere Artists (YAA) Art Coordinator Sophie Wallace exclaims as the artists of YAA eagerly prepare eight new fashion looks to premiere at JamFactory as part of Tarnanthi 2021, the Art Gallery of South Australia’s festival of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art.
Based in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Yarrenyty Arltere (pronounced yarr-wrench arl-der-ah) is one of the oldest Town Camp communities on Arrernte country where the people speak eight languages including Arrernte, Luritja, Alyawarr and English. It is home to a thriving creative hub known as Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, a not-for-profit, Indigenous-owned and managed art enterprise. Small but dynamic, YAA was established by residents and the Tangentyere Council in 2000 as a response to the chronic social issues faced by
the town.
Respected community elder Dulcie Sharpe was instrumental in setting up the centre and has been coming to it to sew ever since. She is one of the eight artists in Nurna yaarna iltjerrama. Nurna kutatha mpaarama! (We can't rest. We always/continue make!) working to keep the culture alive in a safe place that creates new pathways into the future. The artists of YAA communicate the everyday experiences of living in Central Australia – stories about their families, identity, land rights and the olden days.
Marlene Rubuntja, another stalwart of the centre and president of the town camp states: “We have been working for many years doing our art. Working hard. When we sew, the stress can calm down. The art room is a place for us to talk, tell stories and to just
keep going.”
Through the success of the centre’s lively, figurative sculptures, an entirely new art-form has emerged – wearable garments and accessories. The fashions of YAA debuted in 2019 as part of the Darwin Art Fair’s Country to Couture runway show. Each full-garment look is either stitched, hand-painted or screen-printed by the artists. Gunditjmara and Torres Strait Islander artist and curator, Lisa Waup, describes these garments as “(adorning) the wearer as if the YAA sculptures have exploded, grown up and out, reaching human scale.”
In Nurna yaarna iltjerrama. Nurna kutatha mpaarama! (We can't rest. We always/continue make!) each of the eight looks features a unique, hand painted or screen-printed design and is accessorised with a bag. Three of the looks will also feature coordinating sun hats. Some include coordinating soft-jewellery and one ensemble extends to a pair of slippers. This collection also features a new dillybag shirt, available in a limited edition run to purchase through JamFactory Adelaide’s shop.
Ela wearing YAA Dillybag Shirt (yellow); Pencil Skirt and Embroidered Bag with Trudy Inkamala Silk Scarf, 2021. Photo: Nina Fitzgerald. © Yarrenyty Arltere Artists.
Yarrenyty Arltere Artists: Nurna yaarna iltjerrama. Nurna kutatha mpaarama!
(We can't rest. We always/continue make!) is showing in Gallery One until 28 November 2021 as part of Tarnanthi 2021.
Ela wearing YAA Dillybag Shirt (yellow); Pencil Skirt; Embroidered Bag and Trudy Inkamala Silk Scarf, 2021. Laurisha wearing YAA Dillybag Shirt (pink); Embroidered Bag; Trudy Inkamala Skirt (hand-painted) and Silk Scarf, 2021. Photo: Nina Fitzgerald. © Yarrenyty Arltere Artists