Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara

The initiative is a collaboration between Western Australian non-profit arts and cultural organisation FORM; The Art Gallery of Western Australia; Aboriginal art centres; Cheeditha Art Group, Juluwarlu Art Group, Martumili Artists, Spinifex Hill Studio, and Yinjaa-Barni Art; and independent artists Ngarluma artist Jill Churnside, Yindjibarndi artist Katie West, and Martu artist Curtis Taylor.

The project grew from conversations during an influential forum organised by FORM in 2018 to explore the (relatively) untapped potential for the Pilbara to be recognised more widely as a destination for the arts and for cultural tourism, and not just as the core of Australia’s resources industry. Creatives and community stakeholders from across the region gathered in Newman, to listen to each other and to hear key speakers from the broader Australian arts sector. Importantly, the Aboriginal art centres in attendance expressed a concerted interest in collaborating region-wide for the first time. Guided by their collective direction, FORM took on the project coordination role to help deliver the multiple components of the collaboration that became Minthu Ngarnana Gumala (Ngarluma), Guma Tarragayi Marni-Ngarli (Yindjibarndi), Kuma Milpaku (Kariyarra), Yiwarra Kujungka Ngarranypuwa (Martu): Tracks We Share.

Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara brings together more than 70 artists and over 190 artworks. This extraordinary body of work features the most exciting contemporary art coming out of the region while paying homage to the legacy that has informed it, offering a rare and broad-reaching insight into the region’s artistic output over the years. It has provided an opportunity to document the context and development of the artmaking practices that are a key way the Pilbara’s Aboriginal communities share, sustain and celebrate culture. The project maps the breadth of the region’s diverse creative practice and honours the unique space the Pilbara’s Aboriginal artists have carved out amongst contemporary Australian art.

The major exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia was attended by over 150,000 people. A dedicated website and wealth of digital content were produced by FORM alongside local partners, including an archive of photographs and 46 films, interviews and oral histories.

The project's scale has encompassed consultation, artwork development, artistic commissions, artistic residencies, and professional development. Extensive project documentation has been developed in the form of a publication. Through 229 pages of essays, images, interviews, and biographies, the book provides insight into the artists, places, creative processes, Country, and stories behind the art.

“Coming together and putting all these artworks together is bringing us together and sharing the knowledge.”

“It’s the footstep that is passed down from history. As the Pilbara, we are all doing that. It’s a journey, that road, all as one. Cause that yiwarra [track] is for you and me.”