Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis

Published on the occasion of Tennant Creek Brio’s first major survey, ACCA is pleased to announce a dedicated publication celebrating the work of the artist collective living and working on Warumungu Country.

Contributors to the publication include:

Jimmy Frank Jupurrula

Joseph Williams Jangarrayi

Tristen Harwood

Erica Izett

Levi McLean

Max Delany, Jessica Clark, Elyse Goldfinch and Shelley McSpedden

Fusing First Nations cultural traditions, the industrial materiality of the mining industry, and regional and global art influences, Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis asserts and re-imagines the artists’ cross-cultural identities, drawing upon the haunting wounds of post-contact histories, the renewal and remaking of cultural practices, and the collaborative resilience and audaciously punk attitude of a frontier community.

Encompassing contemporary artists from Northern Central Australia and Melbourne, Tennant Creek Brio includes key members Fabian Brown Japaljarri, Lindsay Nelson Jakamarra, Rupert Betheras, Joseph Williams Jungarayi, Clifford Thompson Japaljarri, Jimmy Frank Jupurrula, Fabian Rankine Jampijinpa, Marcus Camphoo Kemarre, and collaborators including Eleanor Jawurlngali Dixon, Lévi McLean, and Gary Sullibhaine. The group first converged in 2016 when the artists initiated an outreach program at the local men’s centre, Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation.

Warumungu, Warlpiri and English languages converge in the exhibition title Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis, which is indicative of the complex intercultural context of Tennant Creek, and The Brio methodology of collaborative creolisation and bricolage. Opening in Warumungu, Juparnta Ngattu conjures notions of ceremonial strength and power through image-making, while the Walpiri term that follows, Minjinypa, means ‘cheeky one’ or ‘trouble(maker)’. Paired with the neologism Iconocrisis, this gathering of multiple languages attests to the formal, linguistic and material collisions inherent to Tennant Creek Brio’s creative and cultural practice, while highlighting their irreverent approach to bringing images, icons, and ideologies into question.  

Alongside the presentation of significant works created over almost a decade, the exhibition at ACCA presents an ambitious, industrially-scaled scenographic assemblage that channels the power and strength of The Brio’s image-making, centring a pertinent critique on colonial extraction, capitalism, and the subsequent social, cultural and political complexities and negotiations that stem from this. The Brio’s signature-style mark-making features across a range of painterly, sculptural, installation, video, drawing and performance practices that highlight the cultural power and rebel-rousing attitude of Tennant Creek Brio’s contemporary art practice.

Cultural Advisors: Jimmy Frank Jupurrula, Joseph Williams Jungarayi
Curatorial Advisor: Dr Erica Izett
Curators: Max Delany, Dr Jessica Clark, Elyse Goldfinch and Dr Shelley McSpedden