World premiere of art commission Two Girls From Amoonguna by Sally M Nangala Mulda and Marlene Rubuntja to open at ACMI

World premiere of art commission Two Girls From Amoonguna by Sally M Nangala Mulda and Marlene Rubuntja to open at ACMI

ACMI and Artbank are proud to present the third Artbank + ACMI Commission with the world premiere of Two Girls From Amoonguna, by joint recipients Arrernte and Southern Luritja artist Sally M Nangala Mulda, and Arrernte and Western Arrarnta artist Marlene Rubuntja. 

Curated by Jenna Rain Warwick (Luritja), the exhibition will be on display in ACMI’s Gallery 3, located in Melbourne’s Fed Square, from 9 May – 20 August 2023. 

Encompassing animation, soft sculpture, and paintings, it tells the intertwined story of Sally, Marlene and their life-long friendship. Supported by Tangentyere and Yarrenyty Arltere art centres in Marnptwe (Alice Springs), both artists have developed a style completely representative of the place in which they live. Marlene’s soft sculpture practice sees her dye material using plants, rusted metals and other found colourings to create creatures of the Central Desert. Sally’s iconic hand-painted script dictating her painted scenes of daily life are both politically poignant and whimsically touching. 

At the centre of the exhibition is the animated video work Arrkutja Tharra, Kungka Kutjara, Two Girls, which tells the story of Sally and Marlene’s enduring friendship from their childhood in Amoonguna Settlement in the Northern Territory to their lives now as two of Australia’s leading artists. 

The animation brings figures from Marlene’s soft sculptures and Sally’s acrylic on linen paintings to life on Marlene’s ink on paper illustrations of Central Australian landscapes. Sally’s hand-painted cursive lettering forms the subtitles for narrations by Sally, Marlene and the voices of their younger family members. Chronicling both their successes and struggles, the work delves into the reality of First Nations peoples living in Central Australia and provides a more personal perspective on an often-politicised area. 

Exhibited alongside will be a selection of Sally’s acrylic on linen paintings and Marlene’s soft sculptures. Playful and colourful, the works exemplify how humour and joy exists side-by-side with hardship.  

Artist Marlene Rubuntja said: "I think the film is real good one! Good to see our lives from backwards when we were just little girls. Now we can show our grandchildren how we were when we were little girls, not just how we are now as old ladies." 

ACMI First Nations Curator Jenna Rain Warwick said: “Two Girls From Amoonguna tells a universal story of friendship and finding joy even in times of hardship. We’re delighted to bring Sally and Marlene’s nuanced, empathetic depiction of life for First Peoples in Central Australia to a wide audience.” 

Artbank Director Zoë Rodriguez said: “This powerful and personal animation is a wonderful example of the incredible diversity in First Nations story-telling and contemporary artistic practice coming from Mparntwe (Alice Springs) Town Camp artists, and the vibrant and skilled art centres they have built. Two Girls From Amoonguna is an exciting fusion of old and new, enabling this story to reach new audiences. These are the stories that all Australians need to hear. Artbank is excited to share this work with the Australian public and international audiences through our leasing program.”

Established in partnership with Artbank, the federal government’s flagship support program for Australian contemporary artists, the Artbank + ACMI Commission is a three-year commissioning program that enables Australian artists and filmmakers to create new works that are conceived at the intersection of art and cinema. This is the third $70,000 commission in the series. 

Sally M Nangala Mulda and Marlene Rubuntja are supported by Tangentere Artists and Yarrenyty Altere Artists respectively. 

The animation Arrkutja Tharra, Kunkga Kutjara, Two Girls was made in collaboration with Ludo Studio, the Emmy-award winning production company behind Bluey, Robbie Hood and The Strange Chores, and Tangentyere Artists producer Ellanor Webb; with script editing by Courtney Collins and sound engineering by Jeremy Conlon. 

Two Girls From Amoonguna runs 9 May – 20 August 2023 at ACMI, Fed Square, Melbourne. Exhibition entry is free. For further details visit acmi.net.au

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Download media assets here.

For further information, please contact nellie.gao@acmi.net.au.

ABOUT SALLY M NANGALA MULDA
Arrernte and Southern Luritja

Sally M Nangala Mulda was born in Titjikala in 1957, and currently resides in Abbott’s town camp by the Todd River in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Her figurative paintings of bold fluid movement, layering of colours and cursive descriptive text candidly depict lived experiences within this camp. She lays bare her reality, cataloguing domestic scenes; cooking damper and talking story, alongside snippets of life since the 2007 Northern Territory Intervention; police pouring out grog and camping in the riverbed.

Mulda paints her stories, shared by many Indigenous Australians, with emotional and political honesty. Having only taken up painting later in life in 2008, Mulda’s career has been met with much success, and seen her celebrated as one of the nation’s top contemporary artists.

ABOUT MARLENE RUBUNTJA
Arrernte and Western Arrarnta

Marlene was born in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in 1961, and grew up at Amoonguna community, east of Alice Springs where she went to school. Rubuntja is the daughter of Wenton Rubuntja, the well-known painter and activist. It was her father who fought for the rights of people to settle town camps in Alice Springs. In the 1970s her family, the Rubuntjas, along with the Ebatarinjas and the Lynches were the original families to settle Yarrenyty Arltere Town Camp. Rubuntja learned to sew at Yirara College, Alice Springs, however she only began making soft sculptures at Yarrenyty Arltere in 2009.

Rubuntja draws inspiration for her soft sculptures and paper works from what she sees in her daily life at Yarrenyty Arltere Town Camp. “Some things are good for people and other things make people really mad,” she says. She also draws inspiration from her father’s country and from her husband’s country at Wave Hill. Rubuntja is interested in telling proudly the stories of her people; her art is helping her to do this. Rubuntja is a proud spokeswoman for the Art Centre and is happy to tell people how important it is in her life and to help her stay strong and healthy

ABOUT ACMI:
ACMI is Australia’s national museum of screen culture. The museum reopened in February 2021 after a two-year, $40 million redevelopment – an architectural, programmatic and technological transformation. ACMI celebrates the wonder and power of the world’s most democratic artform – fostering the next generation of makers, players and watchers. ACMI’s vibrant calendar of exhibitions, screenings, commissions, festivals, and industry and education programs explore the stories, technologies and artists that create our shared screen culture. Navigate the universe of film, TV, videogames and art with ACMI. More at acmi.net.au

ABOUT ARTBANK:
Artbank is a unique government artist support and access initiative. Since 1980 we have supported thousands of Australian artists, through the acquisition of their work, building an impressive collection of over 10,000 artworks. 

Artbank is one of the most accessible and significant collections of Australian art anywhere in the world promoting the value of Australian contemporary art to the broader public via a unique art leasing program. 

Artbank has been collecting, curating and promoting the value of Australian art for over 40 years and with the generous support of our clients we will continue to invest in the future of Australian art. More at artbank.gov.au