• 16. Nyinmi

Jade Butler

16. Nyinmi


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' This place is called Nyinmi. It is near to Kiwirrikurra, my grandfather's country. He used to live there a long time ago with his family. There is one rockhole there, and tali (sand dunes) on either side, and too many bush foods, like kampurampa (bush berries). A long time ago there was one plane that crashed there into the tali. The plane is still there'.


Jade was born in Adelaide. Her mother is from Balgo community and her father, Sammy Butler, is from Tjukurla. Jade began painting with Balgo art centre in 2013, before moving to Tjukurla to be with her father's family. As well as being a painter, Jade is a superstar arts worker, and recently has been learning to stretch canvas. Jade likes to paint rockholes, bush bananas and sand hills from her grandfather's country Nyinmi (west of Kiwirrkurra) where she used to live when little with her grandparents. The family then went to Kiwirrkurra, but flooding forced the family to move to Balgo, and they made a home in Balgo. Jade was taught to paint by her mother. Grandfather passed away a long time ago and so she paints his country to learn his story from her elders and family.


Tjarlirli Art and Kaltukatjara Art are two community-owned art centers located on either side of the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The Tjarlirli art centre is located in Tjukurla, a small community of around 50 people in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. Tjukurla was established here in the 1980s due to its proximity to extremely significant cultural sites and the ancestral homelands of community members. Nestled between sand dunes and the vast salt lake (Lake Hopkins). Kaltukatjara art centre is just across the border in the NPY Lands of the Northern Territory. Kaltukatjara (Docker River) community was established as a settlement in the 1960s and is now home to around 300 people. It lies along stunning mountain ranges and river beds.


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