Jirrawun Arts was a company and art centre owned by

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, founded in 1998 and operating from

Wyndham, Western Australia Wyndham is the northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth. It was established in 1886 to service a new goldfield at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for ...

. It was notable as the base for

contemporary Indigenous Australian art Contemporary Indigenous Australian art (also known as contemporary Aboriginal Australian art) is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians, that is, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. It is generally regarded a ...

ists of the eastern

Kimberley region The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts ...

, including

Paddy Bedford Paddy Bedford (circa 1922 – 14 July 2007), aka "Goowoomji", was a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist from Warmun in the Kimberley, and one of eight Australian artists selected for an architectural commission for the Musée du quai Bra ...

and

Freddie Timms Freddy Timms (1946, Bedford Downs Station – 2017) was an Australian indigenous artist from the Kimberley region. Life and art Timms commenced painting on canvas in the 1990s at Turkey Creek / Warmun in the Kimberley region of Western Australi ...

. It was also touted as a model for the administration of Indigenous art in Australia. A decision was taken by the owners in 2010 to close the centre and sell its property.

Foundation

Contemporary Indigenous painting in the eastern Kimberley region had its origins in the "prophetic dream" of one of the senior Indigenous stockmen of the area,

Rover Thomas Rover Thomas Joolama (1926 – 11 April 1998), known as Rover Thomas, was a Wangkajunga and Kukatja Aboriginal Australian artist. Early life Rover Thomas was born in 1926 near Gunawaggii, at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route, in the Great ...

. Thomas began painting around 1982 and went on to become one of the country's most significant artists. Aided by art workers and advisers including gallerist and art dealer Mary Macha, he also encouraged other community members to take up the brush. These other elders-turned-artists included

Queenie McKenzie Queenie McKenzie (Nakarra) (formerly Oakes, or Mingmarriya) (c. 1915 – 16 November 1998) was an Aboriginal Australian artist. She was born on Old Texas Station, on the western bank of the Ord River in the East Kimberley. Early life M ...

and

. Jirrawun Arts was founded in 1998. Its genesis lay in a 1996 meeting in Melbourne between gallerist Tony Oliver and Freddie Timms, who "knew that the cheap suit and envelope containing $300 he received after completing a month's worth of painting for a commercial gallery in Melbourne was not a true reflection of his worth". His conversation with Oliver led ultimately to the foundation of a private company, its board headed by Timms and with Oliver as its Chief Executive Officer, the purpose of which was to ensure the financial security of artists who could then focus on their painting. Paintings by Jirrawun Arts members were part of the ''Blood on the Spinifex'' exhibition at the

Ian Potter Museum of Art The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia was established in 1972. It houses the art collection of the University of Melbourne. Current director, Kelly Gellatly, was appointed in 2013. It is not to be con ...

, Melbourne University, in 2003.

Expansion, relocation, and closure

Since being founded to assist established Kimberley artists, Jirrawun has gone on to mentor new younger artists, and to operate as a philanthropic organisation. It has supported the Kununurra Youth at Risk Program and a health advocacy organisation known as Jirrawun Health. The board has included a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous expertise, and the organisation has in the past received support from the

Argyle diamond mine The Argyle Diamond Mine was a diamond mine located in the East Kimberley region in the remote north of Western Australia. Argyle was at times the largest diamond producer in the world by volume (14 million carats in 2018), although the propor ...

, located in the region. In 2006 Jirrawun Arts relocated from Kununurra to Wyndham, where it operated out of a purpose-built facility. In 2007 Jirrawun Arts, along with another Indigenous-owned arts company

Papunya Tula Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...

Artists, was praised by an Australian Senate committee for delivering significant benefits to the Indigenous community. Following the death of Paddy Bedford, the owners decided to wind up the business and sell its assets.

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book, last=Rothwell, first=Nicolas, author-link=Nicolas Rothwell, title=Another Country, year=2007, publisher=Black Inc, location=Melbourne, Victoria, isbn=978-1-86395-382-5 Australian Aboriginal art Australian artist groups and collectives