Wesfarmers Arts is thrilled to congratulate Australian artists Symrin Gill, Mabel Juli, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili, Judy Watson and Yhonnie Scarce, together with The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and Tate, on the announcement of the acquisition of six artworks by the artists as part of the International Joint Acquisition Program for contemporary Australian art.Wesfarmers is privileged to hold work by Mabel Juli, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili and Judy Watson in The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art currently touring in the exhibition Ever Present: First People’s Art of Australia – and most recently worked with Juli on the Wesfarmers Gift Commission COLLABORATE2020.
Says Warmun Art Centre: Mabel Juli is a senior Gija artist whose work is informed by the detailed cultural stories that have been passed down to her from family. Garnkiny (2013) is a large square canvas painted in natural earth pigments. At the centre of the work, floating on a dense textured black charcoal ground, is a crescent moon topped by a four-pointed star that has been painted in warm yellow ochre and outlined in dots of white clay. Garnkiny (moon) and Wardel (star) are signature motifs of Juli’s paintings that tell an important Gija Ngarranggarni story of which she is custodian. The work exemplifies the enduring significance of the Garnkiny story within Juli’s practice, as well as herhighly distinctive, distilled aesthetic. The jointly acquired artworks by Mabel Juli, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili, Judy Watson and Yhonnie Scarce, will soon go on display for the first time at Tate Modern in London as part of their expanded rehang of the acclaimed collection exhibition A Year in Art: Australia 1992. Extended to 14 May 2023, this presentation explores Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ relationship to Country as well as colonisation’s ongoing impact on issues of representation, social injustice and climate emergency.
“We are thrilled to be welcoming many of the artists into Tate’s collection for the first time and look forward to sharing these significant works with our visitors.”
Tate Modern Director, Frances Morris