Tying in with Tandanya’s 20th Anniversary celebrations this year, a two-year exhibition in the making, Artists of the Barkly, will officially be launched on Wednesday, August 12, at 6pm at the institute’s premises on Grenfell Street in Adelaide.

The seeds for an exhibition were planted way back in December 2007 when a group of 10 Aboriginal women artists from Julalikari Arts sat down with staff and management from Tandanya.

Representing five different language groups from the Barkly region, the women were on a professional development and arts industry study tour of public and private galleries, cultural institutions, Indigenous art collections and art schools.

Despite being somewhat bewildered by the sight of people openly drinking alcohol on footpath tables, embarrassed by the immodesty of Adelaide summer attire, and homesick for their country, the women absorbed an enormous amount of arts business information and cultural understanding.

From there discussions between Tandanya and Barkly Regional Arts, which represents artists and art centres throughout the Barkly, began in earnest last year.

“Artists in the area were eager to join with Tandanya to help celebrate its 20 years of arts engagement and support for Aboriginal people. They also saw an opportunity to tell their story through their most effective medium, the arts,” said Alan Murn, Barkly Regional Arts CEO.

In mounting this exhibition, both Barkly Regional Arts and Tandanya have been mindful to represent the artistic landscape of around 11 different language areas of the Barkly honestly and transparently.

Selection for the exhibition, which finishes on September 27, was not about artistic excellence alone.

“We have presented a collection that represents long and short-term art centre support, larger communities with established arts networks, artists who have accessed arts skills training, or artists from small remote outstations who might simply be a couple of families painting together,” said Mr Murn.