In ALICESPRINGS, an open-book gallery and
studio space called YUBU NAPAis where self-taught
GALLERIST RicFarmer has GAINED TRUST
and seriousCRED in the often murky-to-navigate
INDUSTRY of ethical INDIGENOUS art.
’ ;
. I’ve always loved art and did art at
school but I wasn’t very good at it. I had plans of becoming a hotel
general manager until, through blind luck, I ran into Helen McCarthy
Tyalmuty, who is a world-renowned artist I had met years earlier
in Darwin. She suggested that I come and work in a studio that she
was in at the time and that was my fi rst real insight into the world
of Indigenous art.
. It was degrees and my partner Karl
and I waved it o saying we’d explore another time. But on returning in
we completely fell in love with the place. We bought a house and
have met amazing people. There’s a very creative community here.
,
.
When I moved here and saw how di erent the art was to what we
were used to in Darwin, I just fell in love with it. You see intricate,
very considered dot work here, but then – on the other hand – you see
some very textured, messier work, and that’s the sort of stu I love.
. It was basically just a massive space for artists
to come in and paint. We focused on building a collection and
wholesaling art to other galleries. In we started opening the
space to the public and that built up and up to the point where we
realised we could probably open a gallery space closer to the action,
in town where we are now.
. It has a double meaning – beautiful
and to do the right thing. It underpins everything we do.WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE TO BE AN...Indigenous art
gallery owner
CLOCKWISE (from
left): Yubu Napa’s Ric
Farmer with Rak Bulgul
by Helen Tyalmuty
McCarthy; The Alice
Springs gallery deals in
ethical Indigenous art;
Barbara Napangardi
Reid shares her Birthing
Ceremony Story.
OPPOSITE (from
top): Nellie Marks
Nakamarra paints her
Puli (Rocky Outcrop)
Story; Doreen Dickson
Nakamarra in the studio. AUSTRALIANTRAVELLER.COM