Ngayu Bugai (I am Bugai)
2023
IN ASSOCIATION WITH MARTUMILI ARTISTS
PAUL JOHNSTONE GALLERY
2/2 Harriet Place
Darwin
OFFICIAL OPENING
3pm Thursday 10th August
OPENING HOURS
Tues to Fri 10 am – 5 pm
Sat 10 am – 2 pm
Born in the 1940’s at Pukayiyirna, Bugai Whyoulter is a Kartujarra woman and a senior custodian of the lands surrounding Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route, Well 33).
She travelled north with her parents and later, as a young woman, met her husband traversing large tracts of the 1850km Canning Stock Route. In 1963 Bugai and her family encountered surveyor Len Beadell, who was grading roads for the Woomera Missile Testing Range. From the flour he provided, Bugai taught her relatives how to cook a simple damper (flat bread), a skill acquired from drovers that she encountered on the Canning Stock Route. Continuing their journey, Bugai, her husband, and her extended family settled at Jigalong Mission. There, they were reunited with relatives that had escaped the desert due to a prolonged and severe drought. They were some of the last Martu to leave the desert.
Today Bugai is considered one of the most revered of the Martumili Artists. A master of colour, gesture and subtlety, her self-reflective works are layered with delicate brush strokes that represent cultural landmarks, water sources, and desert flora.
In 2021, Bugai’s work Wantili won the general painting category at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and in 2019, 2018 and 2013 was selected for the same award. In 2012 her work was selected for the Bankwest Contemporary Art Prize and the Hedland Art Award and in 2010, the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award. She has held regular solo exhibitions, and her work has been acquired by several major institutions in Australia, including The National Museum of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, and Queensland Art Gallery’s Gallery of Modern Art.
IMAGE: Image of the artist image by Yvonne Mandijalu
The full exhibition can be viewed on the Paul Johnstone Gallery website.