Iwantja Arts

The story of Iwantja Arts in Indulkana, SA, is pretty amazing. In the early 1980s, artists Alec Baker and Sadie Singer drove south through the red desert, first to Adelaide and then to Canberra, where they advocated for the funding for facilities to establish a contemporary arts centre.

Today Iwantja Arts is a proud powerhouse of Indigenous art and creative making; the art centre encourages and fosters artistic excellence and cultural development within the community by providing opportunities, training, and career development for Anangu artists. 

We feel privileged to be able to share these amazing works and their stories in our showroom and gallery spaces. 

Recent accolades:

• Betty Muffler, Emerging Art Prize, 2017 National Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander Art Award 
• Peter Mungkuri, Winner, Hadley's Art Prize, TAS
• Vincent Namatjira, Finalist, Archibald Prize 2017, Ramsay Art Prize 2017, Moran Portrait Prize 2017

Indulkana / APY Lands

The community of Indulkana is located in the far north east of South Australia in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Indulkana is situated close to the Stuart Highway, approximately 400km south of Alice Springs.

The community was established in the 1960s after the land was returned to the traditional owners. Many Anangu came to the community after years of employment on neighbouring cattle stations where they had worked as stockmen and station hands.

The first settlement in the community was along the banks of the Iwantja Creek and gradually, as the population expanded, houses and amenities were built closer to the ridge at the edge of the Indulkana Ranges.

Today Indulkana is home to approximately three hundred Anangu, with the two major language groups in the region being Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara.

Photography
Alex Craig and Rhett Hammerton