TRANSCRIPT
Natalie Ahmat: A major new art exhibition is bringing some of the rising female stars of of the Central desert to Sydney.
NITV got a sneak peak of 'The Streets of Papunya' opening soon at the Galleries in the University of New South Wales.
Laura Murphy-Oates: From the desert, to the city
These artworks have come a long way from the tiny town of Papunya in central Australia to here.
Curator Vivien Johnson is showcasing the best female artistic talent in the town, telling the history and stories of the area.
Vivien Johnson, curator: Everything is something, you know, it's story, it looks like a beautiful tapestry or something, but it's a story.
But art isn't all there is to see, with artefacts, photographs, a Papunya family tree and a video installation.
Vivien Johnson: Well part of the point of the show is to have people realise that Papunya is a real place, where generations of Aboriginal people have lived and raised their families and made art
This is a small collection of members of the warangkula clan assembled under the warrangkula street sign.
Known as one of the birthplaces of contemporary Indigenous art, Papunya punches above it's weight.
It's where the famous artist Albert Namatjira did his final artworks, now on display here alongside the best of the current crop of artists.
The papunya art movement was founded in the 70s by a group of male artists. In the 1980s female artists began to paint as well, with the work of some of those original female artists on display here today.
Vivien Johnson has spent her career documenting the beauty and creativity of the town, culminating in this book.
It will be launched in association with the exhibition, when it opens its doors to the public on Saturday.
