Artist Interview for Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis

Watch our interview with Tennant Creek Brio artists Joseph Williams Jungarayi and Jimmy Frank Jupurrula, discussing the first major survey of the artist collective ‘Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis’, now showing at ACCA until Sunday 17 November.

Fusing First Nations cultural traditions, the industrial materiality of the mining industry, and regional and global art influences, the exhibition asserts and re-imagines the artists’ cross-cultural identities, drawing upon the haunting wounds of post-contact histories, the renewal and remaking of cultural practices, and the collaborative resilience and audaciously punk attitude of a frontier community.

ABOUT TENNANT CREEK BRIO: Encompassing contemporary artists from Northern Central Australia and Melbourne, Tennant Creek Brio includes key members Fabian Brown Japaljarri, Lindsay Nelson Jakamarra, Rupert Betheras, Joseph Williams Jungarayi, Clifford Thompson Japaljarri, Jimmy Frank Jupurrula, Fabian Rankine Jampijinpa, Marcus Camphoo Kemarre, and collaborators including Eleanor Jawurlngali Dixon, Lévi McLean, and Gary Sullibhaine. The group first converged in 2016 when the artists initiated an outreach program at the local men’s centre, Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation.

Cultural Advisors: Joseph Williams Jungarayi, Jimmy Frank Jupurrula

Curatorial Advisor: Dr Erica Izett

Curators: Max Delany, Dr Jessica Clark, Elyse Goldfinch and Dr Shelley McSpedden

Video produced by Gatherer Media

Soundtrack: Eleanor Jawurlngali Dixon, ‘Cosmic Mother’ 2024, sound (MP4), 25:00 mins (looped). Courtesy the artists and Nyinkka Nyunyu Art & Culture Centre, Warumungu Country/Tennant Creek