Ach-min
(beautiful)
Ach-min (beautiful in Wik mungkan) exhibits paintings created by elders in Aurukun Far North Queensland to pass on stories, knowledge and language to the younger generations.
Artist Profiles
Janet Koongotema
Janet Koongotema is a senior Aurukun Artist and Wik Mungkan Elder. She was born in Aurukun in 1938 and is also a highly regarded and respected weaver in the Aurukun community. She is extremely dexterous and skillful with her hands, having spent a lifetime using them to collect, spin, twine and create fiber works that are recognised for their elegant and colourful forms.
She began painting in 2010 and adapted her skills and traditional knowledge to painting. She has a strong sense of design and balance of composition and depicts through her bold paintings the essence of her country. A multi-talented artist she has also created dynamic sculptural ghostnet weavings.
She has exhibited nationally and enjoys travelling for exhibitions
Nita Yunkaporta
Nita Yunkaporta was born in Aurukun in 1952. She is an Aurukun Artist and Wik Mungkan Elder.
She began painting in 2018 and she has quickly become sought after for her vibrant colourful depictions of her country. Her mentors include Mavis Ngallameytta (deceased), Jean Walmbeng and Janet Koongotema whom she regularly paints with.
Nit has exhibited in Queensland and South Australia.
Jean Walmbeng
Jean Walmbeng was born in Aurukun in 1950 and has lived there all her life. She is a senior artist and a Wik Alken Elder. Her country is Kencherreng and features in many of her paintings.
Jean started to paint in 2010 and has developed a fresh and distinctive style. Her keen sense and knowledge of her country inspire her vibrant paintings. She has also experimented with ghostnets and created bold fibre objects and sculptures, one of which is in the Art Bank collection.
She has exhibited nationally and travelled around Australia to attend exhibitions.
Percy Koonutta
Percy Koonutta was born in Aurukun in 1951. He is a Wik-Mungkan / Wik-Keyenganh Elder who started to paint in 2018.
Percy’s painting style is very unique, using blocks of colour and geometric shapes to portray country.
He has exhibited at the Hahndorf Academy in South Australia.
Vera Koomeeta OAM
Vera Koomeeta was born in Aurukun in 1960. Sbe is a strong Wik Alken Elder who has been and continues to be a very active community member. Her roles include being a Justice of the Peace, an Aurukun Shire Councillor, a Community teacher, a Commissioner for the Family Responsbilities Commission in Aurukun, an Ancestral Language Expert, a Registered Wik Language Interpreter. In 2015 she was the recipient of an Order of Australia Medal.
She began painting in 2016 and has worked on Language and Art projects. She travelled to Hawaii to attend and present a paper at the 5th International Conference on Language Documentation & Conservation Vital Voices: Linking Language & Wellbeing in 2017.
Mavis Ngallametta
Mavis Ngallametta was born at Kutchendoopen in 1944 and died in Aurukun 2019. She was a strong Kugu Uwanh Elder, a Master Weaver and a renowned painter who was known in the Community of Aurukun as a strong Culture woman.
She began painting in 2008 and quickly developed her own original artistic style, depicting imagery based on community life and Country. Mavis was the winner of the 2013 NATSIA General Painting Award and was represented by the Gallerist Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney. Her works have been collected by most of the major Public Institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, New south Wales Art Gallery, Parliament House Art Collection and numerous private Collections, including the Holmes a Court Collection, Patrick Corrigan Collection, Mr and Mrs Kerry Stokes Collection, Wesfarmers Collection.
In the last year of her life she won the Australia Council of the Arts, Red Ochre Award (Lifetime Achievement) and the Peoples Choice Award at CIAF.
Currently there is a major exhibition titled Mavis Ngallametta: Show Me the Way to Go Home at QAG/GOMA which showcases her paintings and ghostnet weavings.
Rebecca Wolmby
Rebecca Wolmby a Wik Elder was born in Aurukun in 1934 and was married to Silas Wolmby (deceased) a well-respected elder. Rebecca is a traditional weaver with a lifetime of weaving practice.
Rebecca started to paint in 2010. Her paintings are always about her or her husband’s traditional Country. Through her naive and fresh style Rebecca creates a repertoire of her natural environment. She paints with finesse her deep and intimate knowledge of country as she documents the many seasons and associated community activities based on collecting plants and food and looking after country. An expert bush person she depicts the varieties of trees, animals, landmarks and relevant human activities with an easy sense of space and openness.
She has exhibited in Cairns, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Akay Koo’oila
Akay Koo’oila was born in Aurukun in 1923 and died in Aurukun in 2014. She was a Wik Mungkan Elder and while she was still living was the oldest person in Aurukun and related to most of the community.
Introduced to painting in June 2010 she became a passionate and prolific painter and created a considerable body of work. In her works she represents through her own individual dynamic perspective an expressionistic and vivid representation of her Country, her husbands Country and the outstation Ti Tree particularly their abundant varieties of bush foods and flowers.
She exhibited nationally and travelled to Brisbane and Cairns for exhibitions and her works are held in private and public collections.