First Aboriginal-run Desert Mob art show

Hundreds of people have gathered in Alice Springs to see the first Desert Mob art show led by Aboriginal people.

“I’m very proud that this is the first time ever in desert history that we have our own mob curating the exhibition,” the chief executive of Desart, Philip Watkins, told the crowd.

The annual exhibition, which has been running for three decades, showcases the latest work from artists in more than 30 community art centres in the central desert region.

Western Aranda woman Marisa Maher put together the 2022 show with prominent curator, Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman Hetti Perkins.

Ms Perkins said some of the artists on display are descended from the founders of the indigenous art movement.

“It’s really nice to see that this is keeping going through generations, it’s about that legacy and the pride in sharing the culture and the story,” she told AAP.

It’s a significant year for Desert Mob in other ways too: 2022 is the first time the show has been directed by a wholly Aboriginal owned organisation, Desart, the peak body for 38 Aboriginal art centres in Central Australia.

The Aboriginal Women’s Choir and Tinkerbee Dancers performed at the opening ceremony on Thursday as a queue of people formed around the Araluen Art Centre to see, and buy, the artworks.

It appeared many would be snapped up quickly: a new style of works in terracotta by the renowned Hermannsberg Potters, featuring small figures atop brightly coloured cubes, had been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia before the show opened.

This year also marks 50 years since the influential Papunya Tula Artists company was established in 1972.

“Pupunya Tula has remained a flagship art enterprise for our region, one that has a proud reputation both nationally and internationally,” Mr Watkins said.

One of the other standout styles on show at Desert Mob is that of the Hermannsburg school.

Artist Selma Nunay-Coulthard from the Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre said she sometimes looked to Albert Namatjira for inspiration, but her watercolours of the Tempe Downs region are a style all her own.

“I’m very interested in showing my culture, dreaming and all that,” she told AAP.

Hetti Perkins noted many of the artworks, such as a painting that uses old mining maps, are politically charged.

“Beautiful works that have a sting in the tail, but you could say the same for all of them really, it’s all about land rights in some shape or form,” she said.

At least 250 pieces from more than 200 artists are on display, with all income from sales going directly to art centres.

Desert Mob is on at Araluen Art Centre from September 8 till October 23.