Divine Geometry – Prints From Utopia
November 24 2018 – January 6 2019
Wharepuke worked with Narayan Kozeluh, the art coordinator for the Utopian region of Central Australia from Alice Springs, for over a year to bring this major collection of prints from Utopia to New Zealand.
Their real journey began eons ago as images on rock walls and as ceremonial ground paintings and the myths and stories contained span thousands of centuries; what Narayan likes to call ‘the ever present past’.
In 1998 Basil Hall, master printer from the Northern Editions Printmaking Studio, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, came out into the Sandover with his vast knowledge of printmaking. Basil introduced the complex art of etching onto metal plates and screen printing to the artists in the Utopian region, a project he called, Land Mark Mirror Mark.
The foundation for these sacred images lies in Apmere, Love of Country. Mountains, creeks, springs and water-holes are not merely scenic features of the landscape, they are living beings, created and formed by the totemic ancestors at the dawn of time and those old Lawmen of the Sandover still have a deep respect and love for their ancestors.
In Central Australia these men need no introduction except to say they were the who’s who of senior Alyawarr and Anmatyerr Lawman in the Sandover region; woven together, bound by law and ceremony. David Ross Apwerl, an old man in his eighties, carrying the many burdens of custodianship. From Alice Springs to the Queensland border, no ceremony concerning Kangaroo, Possum, Morning Star, Emu, Goanna could be performed without his knowledge. Freddy Jones Kngwarreye, Lennie Jones Kngwarreye, Motorbike Paddy Ngal, Greeny Purvis Apetyarr, Simon Sandover Akemarr, Don Young Ngal, Roley Long Akemarr, Henry Dixon Tjampitjinpa, Lyndsay Bird Apetyarr; the magic of names and the images they conjure up.
When we look at the Utopian etchings we are standing in the middle of a tradition where everything in the natural world is interconnected and nothing is hidden. If we can understand the power of this silent language and the images that nurture it, then perhaps it strikes at our own hearts and awakens something deep within us.
The artists included in Divine Geometry were:
David Ross Apwerl
Don Young
Freddy Jones Kngwarrey
Greeny Purvis Apetyarr
Henry Dixon
Lennie Jones Kngwarrey
Lily Sandover Kngwarrey
Lindsay Bird Apetyarr
Minnie Apwerl
Motorbike Paddy
Paddy Club Apetyarr
Roly Long Kngwarrey
Simon Sandover
I have no idea why I was chosen to take these stories into the world, but I was chosen, and I did take them, from Australia to Bulgaria to Switzerland, England and the USA and it seems perfect to me to end my journey with them in New Zealand, where my own personal journey began – Narayan Kozeluh – Alice Springs 2018