Morgan Williams
Sometimes we need to look further than our own backyard, to seek inspiration from afar. For more than five years Radius Art has been a home for the incredible creative community of our local region, celebrating the textures and tones of our area. But this April, we are stretching our horizons. We are going beyond the radius to bridge thousands of kilometres, bringing the vibrant spirit of Central Australia and Anmatyerr Country to our doorstep. We are thrilled to host the Anmatyerr artists of Yuelamu, a community nestled three hours northwest of Alice Springs in the vast expanse of the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory.
The artist’s cooperative is Inkwareny Artists of Yuelamu. “Inkwareny” meaning ‘honey ant’ and Anmatyerr referring to the dreaming line of the honey ant, that runs through Anmatyerr Country at Yuelamu.
The group is a relatively new, having officially formed in 2023 with the establishment of their own community-run art centre and gallery. Traditional Anmatyerr Owners of Yuelamu conceived and seed funded the Centre from a desire to hold their dreaming stories, art and money within their community.
This project is personal as well as professional. Centre Manager Natalie Moxham has been an integral part of the Inkwareny Artists from the beginning. Natalie’s deep connections back to our own local area helped spark the idea for this collaboration, following the success of the first Inkwareny exhibition at Lot 19 in Castlemaine in 2024. “Sharing connection to country and dreaming stories is a big part of the mission and establishment of Inkwareny Artists” Natalie explains. “Dreaming stories are central to Anmatyerr people’s connection to country and identity. When their art travels, the Country travels too, and everyone it touches becomes richer from the experience.”
To deeply engage with the work of the Anmatyerr people understanding their dreaming (or song line) is key. While Western art often views a landscape through an aesthetic lens, as a ‘view’ to be captured, framed, or recorded, for the Anmatyerr people, the land itself is a living text. For them, these lines represent the ancient journeys of Ancestral beings who literally “sang” the world into existence. As these beings travelled, their songs created the physical features of the earth: the jagged rocks, the hidden waterholes, and the rolling mountains.
When an artist from Yuelamu puts brush to canvas to paint their Dreaming, they aren’t just creating a decorative object; they are practicing culture. Each time the dreaming story is re told or re painted it is reinforced, shared, learnt, known. There is a beautiful parallel here to Western traditions of oral and visual history. Much like the ancient Greek epics that were sung to preserve the memory of a journey, or the intricate stained-glass windows of a cathedral that tell stories of creation, these works are visual echoes of the Dreaming. They are ‘spiritual maps’ that guide the viewer through a landscape that is both physical and metaphysical.
“This exhibition is ‘Of the earth’ inviting you to see and listen to these Anmatyerr dreaming stories,” Inkwareny artists suggest. “It is a way of bringing the desert to everyone, ensuring our ‘Angnekerr’ (Dreaming) stays strong and travels far beyond the horizon.”
The Inkwareny (Honey Ant) itself is a perfect metaphor for the exhibition. In Anmatyerr culture, the honey ant is a symbol of community, patience, and ‘hard-won sweetness’. The ants live deep underground, sometimes tunnelling up to two meters beneath the desert floor to store their golden nectar. The Honey Ant Dreaming involves ancestors traveling immense distances between Yuelamu and other significant sites like Yuendumu and Papunya. Just as the ants connect their underground chambers into a vast network, these stories connect distant communities and places across the desert.
Dreaming stories are often described as a ‘cultural passport’. By hosting the Inkwareny Artists, we aren’t just showing paintings; we are hosting a piece of the Northern Territory landscape and its spiritual map right here in the heart of Hepburn!
In these new works, the artists have specifically worked with objects from the past and materials sourced from the Earth, gathered, harvested and hunted on Anmatyerr territory. Recycling rusty objects from their cultural heritage has been a source of joy, creativity and connection to the land.
This exhibition represents a rare opportunity to see the planet through a different lens, one where the earth is not something we own, but something we belong to. At a time when the world needs more understanding and communal sharing, we invite you to join us in celebrating the Inkwareny Artists of Yuelamu and their latest works throughout the months of April & May.
Grand opening is Friday 24th April at 5pm. Workshop Saturday 25th 1-2.30pm. For bookings, exhibition hours and more information visit www.radiusart.com.au and inkwarenyartists.com
Morgan Williams is the co-director with Kim Percy of Radius Art Space. His art practice spans a 30 year period and explores a diverse range of mediums and topics.
