D.O.B: 1966
LANGUAGE GROUP: Alyawarre/Anmatyarre
COMMUNITY: Utopia, NT

Susan Pitjara (also spelt Petyarre) Hunter was born circa 1966 into the Alyawarre tribe in Utopia. Her country is Atwengerrp. Susan is the younger sister of artists Annie Pitjara Hunter, Jessie Pitjara Hunter and Sandy Pitjara Hunter. She resides at the outstation of Irrultja on Utopia in the Eastern Desert and lives a traditional life spending all her time in the bush.

Susan Pitjara Hunter (also known as Susie) is one of the most gifted emerging artists of this region. Susan has exhibited in various fine art galleries within Australian and overseas. For such a young artist, Susan has always had a deep sense of belonging to her country and has remained steadfastly ‘outbush’. Her meticulous execution of Women’s Business is rendered with extreme care and respect for her subject matter. The end result is a beautiful myriad of intricate patterns symbolising her Dreaming.

In her paintings Susie depicts women’s ceremonial sites or dreaming places where women are gathered. The land and women are painted as if seen from an aerial perspective. The women’s bodies are decorated with natural ochres of red, white and yellow. They wear ceremonial belts made from women’s hair. The women sit and chant the song lines that have been passed down to them from their ancestors. It is at these ceremonial meetings that the women pass on their tribal Dreamings to the younger ones and pay homage to their ancestors, the land and food it produces. These Dreamings and ceremonies teach the community the rules of life in the desert environment.

 

Copyright to this biography belongs to Pwerle Gallery.

 

EXHIBITIONS:

2020 Pwerle Gallery x Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute  ‘Atnwengerrp – Our Apmere, Our Place’ in celebration of Tandanya’s 30th year anniversary, Adelaide.

2018 Mercedes Me x Pwerle Gallery Art Exhibition at Mercedes Me Melbourne.

2018 Pwerle Gallery ‘Utopia exhibition of four generations’, Adelaide.

2010 ‘Fresh from Utopia’, DACOU Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.

2010 ‘Desert Art from Utopia’, presented by DACOU & Southern Health, Monash Hospital, Clayton, VIC.

2009 Group exhibition, DACOU Broome, Broome, WA.

2009 ‘Utopia’, group exhibition, DACOU Melbourne, Middle Park, VIC.

2008 Utopia Discoveries Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne.

2008 EWB Elements traveling group exhibition to major cities in Australia.

2006-8 Permanent Collection, Dacou Gallery Adelaide.

2007 Standing on Ceremony, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide.

2007 ‘Eastern Desert Dreaming-Artists from Utopia’, GalleryG, Brisbane.

2007 ‘Desert Diversity’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne.

2007 ‘Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert’, Simmer on the Bay Gallery, Sydney.

2006 ‘Utopia’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne.

2006 Senior Women of Utopia’, GalleryG, Brisbane.

2004 ‘Bilderwelten in Utopia’, Holzschnitte und Gemaelde vom Aborigines, Staedtisches Kunstmuseum Spendhaus Reutlingen, Kunstmuseum Bayreuth, Germany (in cooperation with the Aboriginal Art Gallery Bahr, Speyer).

1999 ‘Australie – Art, Arts d’Australie’, Stephane Jacob / J.L. Amsler – Bastille, Paris.

1999 ‘Aboriginal Art – Australien Now’, Deutsche Welle, Koln, Germany (in co-operation with the Aboriginal Art Gallery Bahr, Speyer).

1997 ‘Geschichtenbilder’, Aboriginal Art Gallery Bahr, Speyer, Germany.

1991 92,93,94,96 – Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, NT.

1990 Utopia – A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 silk batiks from the Holmes a Court Collection by Utopia artists toured Ireland & Scotland.

89-91 Utopia – A Picture Story, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide.

1989 Utopia Women’s Paintings -the First Works on Canvas – A Summer Project, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney.

1989 Design Warehouse Sydney [through Lauraine Diggins Fine Art].

1989 A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne Design Warehouse. Sydney.

 

COLLECTIONS:

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.
 
 

See below some of her beautiful pieces for sale: