Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara

Celebrating the Aboriginal artists and artwork of Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The show is a collaboration between Western Australian non-profit arts and cultural organisation FORM; The Art Gallery of Western Australia; Aboriginal art centres Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group, Martumili Artists, Spinifex Hill Studio, and Yinjaa-Barni Art; and independent artists Katie West, Curtis Taylor, and Jill Churnside.

Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara brings together more than 70 artists and over 190 artworks. This extraordinary body of work features the most exciting contemporary art coming out of the region while paying homage to the legacy that has informed it, offering a rare and broad-reaching insight into the region’s artistic output over the years.

The exhibition is one of the final stages in a multi-year project which has documented the context and development of the artmaking practices that are a key way the Pilbara’s Aboriginal communities share, sustain and celebrate culture. The project maps the breadth of the region’s diverse creative practice and honours the unique space the Pilbara’s Aboriginal artists have carved out amongst contemporary Australian art.

The title of the exhibition was devised by a group of the exhibiting artists and references the many language groups and diverse Country of the Pilbara, while acknowledging the physical, cultural and artistic tracks that connect them all.

The core of the exhibition is a spectacular selection of the stunning acrylic paintings for which the region’s art movement is primarily known, accompanied by works on paper, installations, film, animation, photographs, sculptures, and carvings. Together, the works highlight the immense artistic diversity that exists within the region, spanning a gamut of styles while referencing ancient knowledge and modern events.

The Tracks We Share project has encompassed consultation, artwork development, artistic commissions, artistic residencies, and professional development. Extensive project documentation will be shared in the form of a publication which will provide insight into the artists, places, creative processes, Country, and stories behind the art.

Image credit - Jatarr Lily Long and Wurta Amy French, Karlamilyi (Rudall River area) 2010 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 300 x 500 cm. Image courtesy of Jatarr Lily Long and Wurta Amy French (Martumili Artists).