WARLUKURLANGU ARTISTS AND 'THE BIG CANVAS'

By the mid-1930s Cockatoo Creek country had become part of a pastoral lease. By 1950 the Warlpiri and Anmatyerre people were encouraged to live permanently at Yuendumu, and later, at nearby Mt Allan.

The Warlukurlangu Artists Association was formed at Yuendumu during 1983, to promote the new acrylic art movement. During the 1990s, the Association began producing a unique series of 'big canvas' works.

In 1996 the South Australian Museum approached Warlukurlangu Artists to commission a large painting which would add a contemporary dimension to the Museum's 1931 Cockatoo Creek material. The result was this collaborative work, painted during a four day period by 29 Warlpiri and Anmatyerre artists.
The process of visiting sites, telling their stories, dancing and singing, and the painting itself was recorded on film by a team from the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association, assisted by Warlpiri Media. Some of that film is shown here. It describes the painting and its stories, from the Warlpiri/Anmatyerre point of view.