BALGO & TURKEY CREEK: The Kimberlys

In the galleries above, the paintings on exhibtion celebrate the diversity of styles and themes found in contemporary Aboriginal art, as well as the individuality of artistic expression. Painting in the Central and Western Desert regions of Australia began at Papunya in 1971 as an assertion of cultural identity and rights to traditional lands from which the recently settled artists had been cut off. By the 1980's the potential of indigenous fine art was recognized at Aboriginal communities across Australia's vast interior, and the painting of ceremonial designs on canvas, derived from the Dreaming, was undertaken at Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Balgo, Turkey Creek, Utopia, and Haast's Bluff.