Sam Juparulla Wickman: Black | White

Sam Juparulla Wickman's exhibition featured glass shields and large canvases exploring the theme Black | White, and examined the coming together of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

The works were a personal journey for Juparulla Wickman, a narrative which told of his landscape, his country, a place where ritual inclusion belonged to him, and his family. A significant ancient tradition which has been passed down over millions and through the efforts of storytellers like Juparulla Wickman will continue to for future generations.

Juparulla Wickman's knowledge of his culture is broad and materialised on canvas and in glass. In this body of work he explored understandings of ceremony and culture, and his intimacy with country and ceremony.

As a Arrernte, Luritja, Pitjantatjarra, Yankuntjatjarra man, Wickman aimed to pass on knowledge of how an Aboriginal Wati expresses and exerts his understanding of ceremony within the landscape.

Since 2004 Sam Juparulla Wickman has led the Indigenous production of warm, slumped glass, painting and fusing glass. This experimentation in glass, much of it at the Bonegilla Glass Co-op before its closure, opened up a whole new medium for First Nations artists to pursue. Another significant influence in Wickman's craft came from working with Malcom Jagamarra, a Warlpiri man, part of the contemporary desert art movement.