Yaritji Young / Ngayuku Ngura – My Country

Provenance: Tjala Arts (APY Lands)

Yaritji Young is a Pitjantjatjara woman born c. 1954 in the bush near the creek at Ernabella in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands of far north South Australia. Young now resides at Rocket Bore, and is a senior law woman committed to fostering law and culture in the community. Her works are drawn from the Tjala (Honey Ant) Dreaming.

A talented artist, Yaritji Young has been painting at Tjala Arts since late 2000, and has also exhibited with the Tjanpi Desert Weavers across the years. In 2004, she was a finalist in the 29th Annual Shell Fremantle Print Award and the 21st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Both paintings and weaved objects by the artist are held in public collections in Australia.
Young was a finalist in the 2013 30th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and the 2016 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.

Alongside her sisters Tjungkara Ken, Sandra Ken, Maringka Tunkin and Freda Brady, Yaritji Young won the highly prestigious Wynne Prize for Landscape at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney in 2016.

In 2017, Yaritji Young had her first solo exhibition at Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne which was a sell out success.

Solo Exhibitions:

2017 Walytapitiku Laina – Family Lines, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2000 Irititja Munu Kuwaritja Tjukurpa (Stories from the past and present), Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

2003 Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

2004 Looking after country: Manta Atunymankunytja, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

2009 Kuru Alala – Eyes Open, National Touring Exhibition, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

2010 Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

2010 Tjala Men and Tjanpi Desert Weavers – Watiku tjukurpa pulka mulapa, munu Minymaku tjanpi; exhibition tjungu kupu (The men’s stories are very strong with the women’s tjanpi; a strong exhibition), Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

2011 Western APY Lands – Pro Community, ARTKelch, Leipzig, Germany

2011 Tjala Artists. Anangu maruku mulapa – This is our real way, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

2013 Heartland – Contemporary Art from South Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

2014 Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

2016 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

2016 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

2016 Nganampa Kililpil – Our Stars, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea, New South Wales, Australia

2017 Artists of the APY Lands, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Awards:

2004 Finalist, 29th Annual Shell Fremantle Print Award

2004 Finalist, 21st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

2013 Finalist, 30th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

2016 Finalist, 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

2016 Winner (Tjala Arts Collaborative), Wynne Prize

2017 Finalist, 34th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

2017 Finalist, Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

In this painting Yaritji Young has depicted her country. The different colours and designs represent variations in the landscape.