Tjala Arts is a relatively new Aboriginal art organisation compared to the majority of Aboriginal art centres around Australia . Since the 1970?s art and craft in Amata had been produced on and off under the guidance of non-Aboriginal people. In 1997 the women of Amata and Tjurma Homelands began working towards finding a permanent home for what would become Minymaku Arts (our original name).
Until then the artists sold their work through the occasional exhibition or to the very few passing tourists or government employees such as teachers, builders, nursing and council staff who quickly became inundated with the local art and craft.
Around 1981 a group of Amata people were the first artists to take their punu (wood carvings) to Uluru (Ayers Rock) to gain access to the expanding tourist market. The punu, decorated with linear burn marks in repetitive curves, has continued to be produced by the Amata people. The designs or ?walka? used on the punu have been adapted and developed into the abstract designs we now see in the artwork produced by the artists at Tjala Arts.
Minymaku Arts was renamed Tjala Arts in January 2006 to reflect the diversity of the artists now working at the centre. The name Minymaku was originally derived from the name 'Minymaku Batik'. The batik produced at Tjurma Homelands was marketed under this name.
Traditionally, art centres in the region were viewed as places for women to 'work' and the men to ignore. Tjala Arts was the first art centre in the APY Lands to encourage the men to paint. Keeping in line with cultural norms, the men work in a separate space close to the main building where the women work.
Where we live
Amata is located in the region known as the Anangu Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara Lands. About 2500 people live in the region, which cover more than 103,000 square kilometres of arid land in the far North-West of South Australia.
The South Australian Parliament gave title of the lands back to the Aboriginal people in 1981. The Anangu Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara Council was established as the governing body of the lands and is incorporated by the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act.
All the traditional owners of the lands the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunyjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra people have members on the Council.
Aboriginal communities on the lands include Indulkana, Mimili, and Pukatja (Ernabella) to the east; Watarru to the southwest, and Kanypi, Nyapari, Pipalyatjara to the west of Amata. Surrounding the many communities can be found numerous homelands, which belong to specific family groups.
