Event | UVA Arts

Prints by eight artists from Ikuntji Artists, the first Aboriginal art center established for women, by women in Central Australia.

Now gracing the walls of the Upper West Oval Room of the University of Virginia's Rotunda, Tali | Sandhills: Prints from Ikuntji Artists brings together works by eight artists from Ikuntji Artists, the first Aboriginal art center established for women, by women in Central Australia. Located at Ikuntji/Haasts Bluff, 230 km (143 miles) west of Mparntwe/Alice Springs, the art center has a long history of being a source of cultural strength, creativity, and connection to Ngura (Country).

Tali | Sandhills refers to the landscapes of the red desert, and encompasses the land, the roads, the food, and the journeys people take across it. Co-curator of the exhibition Roseranna Larry explains: “We chose the topic of the Tali because they remind us of where we come from and where we are living now. They hold our history—how the old people traveled across the land for hunting and for lookout, moving through the red sand from the west all the way to Ikuntji/Haasts Bluff. When we paint these stories, we think of the old people, the land they came from, the journeys they traveled.”

Tali | Sandhills is presented by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in collaboration with Ikuntji Artists. It is co-curated by Roseranna Larry (Chairperson, Ikuntji Artists) and Ainsley McGowan (fourth-year art history major, the University of Virginia). Support was provided by UVA Arts through the UVA Arts Council, the Vice Provost for the Arts, the Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures, and the Department of Art.