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Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis

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Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis references The Brio’s practice of reinscribing their experiences, cultural identity and mark making onto salvaged found materials such as oil barrels, car bonnets, solar panels, poker machines, television screens, and geological maps from the abandoned Warrego mine. Confronting the current state of polycrisis*, of belief systems in conflict, and contested and scarring histories, the exhibition stresses an urgent need for truth-telling, future-thinking, collectivity and action. Exploring themes of extraction, reclamation and collaboration, The Brio’s artworks reveal the deeply personal and complex intergenerational influences that continue to shape and entwine the artists’ lives, identities and future-thinking.

Warumungu, Warlpiri and English languages converge in the exhibition title Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis, which is indicative of the complex intercultural context of Tennant Creek, and The Brio methodology of collaborative creolisation** and bricolage***. Opening in Warumungu, Juparnta Ngattu conjures notions of ceremonial strength and power through image-making, while the Walpiri term that follows, Minjinypa, means ‘cheeky one’ or ‘trouble(maker)’. Paired with the neologism**** Iconocrisis, this gathering of multiple languages attests to the formal, linguistic and material collisions inherent to Tennant Creek Brio’s creative and cultural practice, while highlighting their irreverent approach to bringing images, icons, and ideologies into question.  

The Brio’s image-making centres a pertinent critique on colonial extraction, capitalism, and the subsequent social, cultural and political complexities and negotiations that stem from this. 

The Brio’s signature-style mark-making features across a range of painterly, sculptural, installation, video, drawing and performance practices that highlight the cultural power and rebel-rousing attitude of Tennant Creek Brio’s contemporary art practice.

Artists: Fabian Brown Japaljarri, Lindsay Nelson Jakamarra, Rupert Betheras, Joseph Williams Jangarrayi, Clifford Thompson Japaljarri, Jimmy Frank Jupurrula, Fabian Rankine Jampijinpa, Marcus Camphoo Kemarre, and collaborators including Eleanor Jawurlngali Dixon, Lévi McLean, and Gary Sullibhaine

*Polycrisis – a situation where multiple, interconnected crises converge and amplify each other, resulting in systemic challenges that are difficult to manage or resolve.

**Creolisation – the process by which elements of different cultures are blended together to create a new culture.

***Bricolage – a technique or creative mode, where works are constructed from various materials available or on hand.

****Neologism – a newly coined word or expression.

Cultural Advisors: Joseph Williams Jangarrayi, Jimmy Frank Jupurrula
Curatorial Advisor: Erica Izett
Curators: Jessica Clark, Max Delany, Elyse Goldfinch and Shelley McSpedden

Pronunciation for the exhibition title:

Juparnta = Juhp – ahrn – da
Ngattu = Ng – ah – too [Ny – ah – too] 
Minjinypa = Min – yee – ba

  1. Introduction
  2. About the Artists
  3. Key artworks
    1. Tennant Creek Brio, (Fabian Brown Japaljarri, Jimmy Frank Japurrula, Joseph Williams Jungurayi, Clifford Thompson Japaljarri), Various works, 2022 -24
    2. Tennant Creek Brio (Jimmy Frank Jupurrla), Kunari, 2024
    3. Tennant Creek Brio (Fabian Brown Japaljarri, Jimmy Frank Japurrula, Joseph Williams Jungurayi, Marcus Camphoo Kemarre, Rupert Betheras, Lévi McLean), One eyed man, 2020
  4. Support Material
  5. For Teachers

How to use this kit

This exhibition kit has been written by ACCA Education to support learning alongside the ACCA exhibition Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis. The Brio artists and three key artworks from the exhibition have been highlighted, with discussion questions to prompt students’ thinking. Primary and secondary activities, mapped to the Victorian and Australian Curricula, can be found in the For Teachers section. Upon request, VCE students and teachers can view Support Material for further reading and teaching notes drawn from ACCA’s VCE Programs.

Thank you to Jimmy Frank Jupurrula for speaking with ACCA Education about these works and this exhibition. These powerful and insightful conversations have been key in guiding the development and writing of this kit, we appreciate your openness in sharing your culture and knowledge.

About the Artists

The Tennant Creek Brio encompasses contemporary artists from Northern Central Australia and Melbourne. The 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.

In 2016, before the establishment of Tennant Creek Brio, a men’s art therapy program was initiated by Rupert Betheras, Fabian Brown Tjpaljarri and Joseph Williams Jungarayi through Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation’s Stronger Families Men’s Centre in Tennant Creek. Tennant Creek Brio grew out of this program and has since been practicing as an independent art collective, with a close association to Nyinkka Nyunyu Art & Culture Centre, Tennant Creek. The name Brio is an Italian word meaning courage, or liveliness of style or performance, which perfectly describes this collective. 

The artists meet regularly in a shed on the outskirts of the town to make work, share and collaborate. Each individual brings their unique creativity along with locally sourced materials and techniques to the collective. This process allows for an open exploration with some artists choosing to work with paint, others sculpturally and some across both. 

Collectively The Brio’s work highlights the importance of truth-telling and the strength and resilience of Aboriginal people.

 

Joseph Williams Jangarrayi
Born 1978 Garramilla/Darwin, Northern Territory
Lives and works on Warumungu Country/Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Skin: Jangarrayi; Language: Warumungu

Fabian Brown Japaljarri
Born 1968 in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Lives and works on Warumungu Country/Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Skin: Japaljarri, Jambin, Ampetyane; Language: Waramungu, Warlpiri, Warlmunpa and Kaytetye

Clifford Thompson Japaljarri
Born 1980, Warumungu Country/Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Lives and works on Warumungu Country, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Skin: Japaljarri; Language: Kaytetye

Rupert Betheras
Born 1975 in Naarm/Melbourne, Victoria
Lives and works on Mudbarra and Warumungu Country, between Marlinja and Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, and Naarm/Melbourne

Lindsay Nelson Jakamarra
Born 1974 in Alekarenge/Ali Curung, Northern Territory
Lives and works on Warumungu Country, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Skin: Jakamarra; Language: Warlpiri

Jimmy Frank Jupurrula
Born 1981 Mparntwe/Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Lives and works on Warumungu Country/Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Skin: Jupurrula; Language: Warumungu

Marcus Camphoo Kemarre (aka Double O)
Born 1992 Katherine, Northern Territory
Lives and works between Warumungu Country/Tennant Creek, and Alekarenge/Ali Curung, Northern Territory
Skin: Kemarre; Language: Alyawarr, Kaytetye

 

Download Full Artist Biographies

Download Wall Text

Key Artworks

Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2024. Courtesy the artists and Nyinkka Nyunyu Art & Culture Centre, Tennant Creek. Photograph: Andrew Curtis

Tennant Creek Brio

Aboriginal Freehold Land  (Clockwise from top left)
found sign
80.0 x 100.0 cm

Tennant Creek Brio (Fabian Brown Japaljarri)
Demolished land 2022
acrylic and paper on Masonite board
109.0 x 109.0 cm

Tennant Creek Brio (Fabian Brown Japaljarri)
The way I see is that our sacred land is demolished… 2022
acrylic and paper on Masonite board
79.5 x 105.0 cm

Tennant Creek Brio (Joseph Williams Jungarayi)
Signs of life 9 2022
synthetic polymer paint on found map
77.0 x 99.5 cm
Collection: Biddy and Chris van Aanholt, Naarm/Melbourne

Tennant Creek Brio (Joseph Williams Jungarayi)
Water is life 2023
acrylic and acetate collage on found map
103.5 x 71.0 cm

Tennant Creek Brio (Clifford Thompson Japaljarri)
Danger 2024
enamel on found sign
85.0 x 55.0 cm

Tennant Creek Brio (Joseph Williams Jungarayi)
Ngarli 2024
acrylic, ink and charcoal on found map
58.5 x 84.0 cm

Ngarli translation from Warumungu:
The women were collecting seeds;
In the past, the old people;
And eating bread made from the seeds;
That was the food to eat;
Collected from the country

Tennant Creek Brio artist
Untitled 2017
acrylic on found map
65.0 x 45.5 cm

Tennant Creek Brio (Jimmy Frank Jupurrula)
Yukulu/Snake 2024
mixed media on Masonite board
109.0 x 109.0 cm


Key ideas/concepts: Cultural protocol, power and authority, Country, mapping, impact of mining, land rights

This collection of 10 artworks at the entrance of  gallery one highlight the importance of cultural protocol*. The installation is made up of works by a number of The Brio members, and includes drawings, paintings and cultural markings inscribed on reclaimed mining maps. There are also found signs that refer to land rights and mining. Included in this collection are works by Jimmy Frank Jupurrula and Joseph Williams Jungarayi, two cultural leaders in Tennant Creek. Beginning the exhibition with these works is a way to remind viewers of the importance of following cultural protocols as they enter the exhibition space. 

The symbols and shapes in the artworks reference these laws and sacred places on Country. The signs collected from Tennant Creek speak to the European laws and rules enforced upon those living in Tennant Creek and Indigenous communities. Here the artists have reclaimed and inverted these laws, maps and signs, for example by adding text: ‘Please clean up the mess you’ve…have finished messing up my Country. This is Aboriginal Land.’

*Cultural protocol – ethical principles which guide behaviour in a particular situation.

Discussion questions:

  • The artists have used found objects in these artworks. What do these signs remind you of?
  • When reading the text that is used in these artworks, how do you feel?
  • This exhibition is incredibly collaborative. In what ways are these artworks strengthened by being hung together in this formation (Salon style)?
Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2024. Courtesy the artists and Nyinkka Nyunyu Art & Culture Centre, Tennant Creek. Photograph: Andrew Curtis

Jimmy Frank Jupurrula
Kunari 2024

Reinforced concrete, mulga wood, steel, with steel base
240.0 x 56.0 x 250.0 cm
Carving: Jimmy Frank Jupurrula
Sculptural fabrication: Jonathan Leahey


Key ideas/concepts: Truth-telling, strength, resilience, cultural protocol

Kunari 2024 (which translates as lightening dreaming) represents an Indigenous mythical story, in which a ‘Black Zeus’ figure sends a storm as a consequence for breaking cultural protocol (taking water without permission). The large concrete arm was salvaged from an abandoned roadhouse near Tennant Creek, and was originally attached to a large sculpture of The Hulk. Now transformed, the arm acts as a spear thrower, speaking both about customary Aboriginal law and Indigenous peoples’ strength and resilience despite the ongoing impacts of colonisation.

The Artist explains: “I hand carved the spear from Mulga wood and see Kunari as representing cultural protocol through the idea of lightening and law. As a cultural leader the sculpture reflects my engagement and work in politics, cultural protocol and law.”

Discussion questions:

  • Do you recognise this green arm from anywhere? 
  • What words or feelings do you think of when you see an arm and spear like this?
  • Reflecting on art history, what art influences do you see in this work?
  • Why do you think it’s important to follow cultural protocol?
Tennant Creek Brio (Fabian Brown Japaljarri, Jimmy Frank Japurrula, Joseph Williams Jungurayi, Marcus Camphoo Kemarre, Rupert Betheras, Lévi McLean) One eyed man 2020. Repurposed poker machine and jalkarra, single-channel digital video 200.0 x 310.0 x 190.0 cm. Courtesy the artists and Nyinkka Nyunyu Art & Culture Centre, Warumungu Country/Tennant Creek. Photograph: Andrew Curtis

Tennant Creek Brio
One eyed man 2020

Repurposed poker machine and jalkarra, single-channel digital video
200.0 x 310.0 x 190.0 cm


Key ideas/concepts: Extractive practices (mining, colonisation, pastoralism), collision and coming together of different cultures

One eyed man is an example of The Brio’s repurposed, repainted and reworked poker machines, which were salvaged from a closed nightclub in Tennant Creek. This artwork expresses the negative effects of gambling but also references other impacts of colonisation. Settlers on the land saw opportunity and wealth, but they didn’t see the connection of the Indigenous people to the land. Pastoralists and miners (those engaged in extractive* practices) come to a place, take what they want, and then leave (usually leaving behind mess, destruction and loss – with no compensation). The poker machines and what they represent are the same – they take but don’t give back, breaking the Indigenous law of ngjinkirri, an important practice of gift-giving and reciprocity.

As in many of The Brio’s artworks, One eyed man uses the technique of bricolage, combining objects that relate to Indigenous culture (the carved wooden spears) and European/Western culture (the poker machine). As Joseph Williams Jungurayi has explained, “We collect objects and materials that come from two different worlds, one, our spears…hold traditional histories and values, and the other side of the history is the …pokies. These materials tell stories of two worlds crossing over.”

*Extractive – withdrawal of natural resources by extraction with no provision for replenishment.

Discussion questions:

  • The artists have reused and sourced materials from around Tennant Creek. What objects make up this artwork?
  • This artwork was made collaboratively (multiple artists worked on it together). Have you ever made a collaborative work? If not, can you imagine what it might look like? Whose story would it tell?
  • This artwork represents the collision of two different worlds. How have the artists used art elements and principles (e.g. colour, line, repetition, variety and contrast) along with subject matter to express this?

Support Material

LISTEN

ABC Radio National – The Art Show: Meet the Tennant Creek Brio – A thrilling new voice in art

ABC Radio National – Tennant Creek and the Great Australian Silence

 

WATCH

ABC Arts – The power of the collective – Tennant Creek Brio brings healing | Art Works

My Art, My Culture: Jimmy Frank

My Art, My Culture: Joseph Williams

Desert TV – Tennant Creek Brio

 

READ

Wall Texts 

Artist Biographies

Broadsheet: Truth Telling and Cultural Narratives at ACCA’s Major New Show by NT Artist Collective Tennant Creek Brio

Arthub: Exhibition Review by Celina Lei

The Monthly: Desert Bloom, Tennant Creek Brio 

First Nations Protocols (VCE Secondary students) – Museums & Galleries of NSW


RESEARCH & ENQUIRY

AIATSIS Indigenous Language Map

Book – Dean Ashenden, Telling Tennant’s Story: The Strange Career of the Great Australian Silence

Book – Alexis Wright, Grog War

Repatriation: Fowler Museum Returns Objects to the Warumungu


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Learn our Truth Resources: The Learn Our Truth campaign calls for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led histories to be taught and learnt in schools. Founded by NIYEC, the campaign and resources advocate for the importance of learning ‘true’ history in schools: https://learnourtruth.com/about/  & https://www.niyec.com/resources

Common Ground: The First Nations Bedtime Stories initiative is aimed at maintaining and strengthening First Nations cultures. In this video resource First Nations Elders and knowledge custodians share non-secret Dreaming stories. These stories are accompanied by educational resources mapped to Primary F-6 school curriculum and Early Learning framework for Australia: https://www.commonground.org.au/firstnationsbedtimestories

For Teachers

Primary activities

Sculptural Bricolage x Collaboration

In this activity, students will respond to sculptural artworks by The Brio in the exhibition, including Kunari 2024 by Jimmy Frank Jupurrula and One eyed man by The Brio. Working in pairs or as a group students will use salvaged materials to create a sculptural assemblage.

Start by collecting your materials. Use a range of found and everyday objects (e.g. signs, cardboard boxes, recycled plastic, broken toys, etc.). Think about the story behind each object, and how this may add meaning to your sculpture.

Consider and trial different ways to combine your materials, in order to create a 3D sculpture. The Brio often use materials like scrap metal to make figures, for example the ‘Black Zeus’ Hulk arm in Kunari and the haunting figure of the One eyed man.

Once you are happy with your arrangement, join each part together. Depending on the materials you’ve used, experiment with tape, glue, string, wire or hot glue guns. If you are using hot glue, be sure to get help from your teacher. 

Extension: experiment by adding paint onto your sculpture. For example, in One eyed man The Brio have added an eye, bright yellow and black lines to the poker machine using drippy, expressive paint. Think about how the incorporation of elements like colour and line will change the aesthetic qualities of your work, and may also change or emphasise the meaning.

Australian Curriculum / Visual Arts / Years F-6

  • Explore ideas and artworks from different cultures and times, including artwork by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, to use as inspiration for their own representations (ACAVAM110)
  • Use materials, techniques and processes to explore visual conventions when making artworks (ACAVAM111)
  • Create and display artworks to communicate ideas to an audience (ACAVAM108)

Victorian Curriculum / Visual Arts / Levels F-6

  • Explore ideas and artworks from different cultures and times as inspiration to create visual artworks (VCAVAE025)
  • Experiment with different materials and techniques to make artworks (VCAVAV018)
  • Create and display artworks to express ideas to an audience (VCAVAP023)
  • Identify and discuss how ideas are expressed in artworks from a range of places, times and cultures, including artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (VCAVAR028)

Curriculum Interpretation

This activity is devised in response to various sculptural artworks by The Brio in the exhibition, including Kunari 2024 by Jimmy Frank Jupurrula and One eyed man 2020 by Tennant Creek Brio.

By undertaking these activities, students:

  • Utilise a range of found and salvaged objects in artmaking.
  • Consider how the materials they use can tell a story or express an idea.
  • Experiment with art elements like colour and texture, and art principles like repetition and variety.

Secondary activities

Mapping Meaning

This activity responds to the artworks created using salvaged maps by The Brio in the exhibition, including Signs of life 9 2022 by Joseph Williams Jungarayi (key work 1). This inspiration also comes from the maps by The Brio in carousel images 19-22 (top of page). As Jimmy Frank Jupurrula has said, when mining began in the region, the corporations used the maps to mark out lines of ore, lines for boundaries, and lines for roads. “These big lines on these maps, but thousands of years before those maps and those miners there were other lines that we know—there were Songlines, there’s a dream line, significant lines for us. They put these lines on the maps without acknowledging the ones from before.”

Begin by considering the following questions: what is a map and what is it for? The Tennant Creek Brio use maps as a site of both collision and connection. Maps can be a wayfinding tool, a source of knowledge, or they can be a tool of colonial power and displacement.

Collect a range of source material, for example old Melways, printed or found maps that relate to your local area/school, maps that show the ‘Australian’ states, a map of Indigenous Australia that shows language groups, Judy Watson’s ‘the names of places’ massacre map, Norman Tindale’s tribal map of Australia, a world map, a heat map, etc. 

Additional materials you may like to use could include magazines, scissors and glue for collage, acrylic paint, oil pastels and tools for drawing or writing like paint markers (e.g. Posca pens, fineliners, etc.) and alphabet stencils for adding text. 

Consider what you would like to map, and why. Start with one or more existing maps, and, guided by your aim (e.g. to reclaim or critique, to connect, etc.) experiment with the map in some way. You might like to tear or cut the map, and then reconfigure the parts. You might draw, paint or write on top of the map. You might try combining more than one map together. Discover and be open to how you can create new meaning through your interventions.

Collaboration: Using the process above, work together in pairs or in small groups to make your Maps.

Extension: if you have access to the necessary materials (e.g. a printer and tracing paper or similar), trial printing a range of different types of maps onto clear paper (you could use tracing paper or transparency sheets). Experiment with layering the different maps. What happens when you place one kind of map on top or underneath another?

 

Australian Curriculum / Visual Arts / Years 7-10

  • Explore how and why the arts are important for people and communities (AC9AVAFE01)
  • Experiment and play with visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials (AC9AVA2D01)
  • Use visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials to plan and create artworks that communicate ideas, perspectives and/or meaning (AC9AVA6C01)
  • Share and/or display artworks and/or visual arts practice in informal settings (AC9AVA4P01)

Victorian Curriculum / Visual Arts / Levels 7-10

  • Explore ideas, experiences, observations and imagination and express them through subject matter in visual artworks they create (VCAVAE021)
  • Experiment with different materials and techniques to make artworks (VCAVAV018)
  • Create and display artwork considering how ideas can be expressed to an audience (VCAVAP031)

Curriculum Interpretation

This activity is devised in response to various map artworks created by The Brio in the exhibition, including Signs of life 9 2022 by Joseph Williams Jungarayi.

By undertaking these activities, students:

  • Consider how to use and alter existing source material (e.g. maps) to create new meaning.
  • Explore the use of techniques like layering, and the combination of images and text to convey ideas.
  • Develop their creative and critical thinking skills.

 

Terms of Use

This education resource has been produced by ACCA Education to provide information and classroom support material for education visits to the exhibition Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis. The reproduction and communication of this resource is permitted for educational purposes only.

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