Epenarra Artists, from the remote community of Wutunugurra in the Northern Territory, have never had a permanent art studio. Despite their desire to paint, each time they established themselves they found that another project took precedence and before long, they were asked to move on.

This constant upheaval, however, seems to have instigated something impressive. In 2009, the women asked some of the men in the community to build a bough shelter outside the World Vision office.

World Vision has been supporting the group to develop self-management skills. World Vision’s Indigenous Arts Project aims to raise the socio-economic status of Indigenous artists and their families through the development of sustainable community art enterprises. We saw the need for the group to have a permanent art space and so the World Vision office became the Epenarra Art office and the women began to paint under the bough shelter.

The art group gradually made this space their own; one of the artists planted beans to shade them from the elements and the men carted in sand from the river so that the ground was soft enough to sit on.

Over the past 12 months the artists have shown great commitment to developing their art group. Epenarra Artists are now self-sufficient in the purchase of art supplies and work independently of the World Vision Project Officer who no longer has a permanent presence in the community.

While their new art space was functional, the artists were still very much exposed to the harsh elements of this region. Strong winds in August and September often halted work because dirt blows across the community making it difficult to paint.

The group had no shelter from rain during the wet season and high temperatures in summer meant that shade was essential. So again, the artists came up with a solution: extending the office verandah so that it would protect their shelter from rain, wind and sun.

They received funding for this work from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the local Barkly Shire recently completed the verandah extension.

This change has re-energised and excited the artists, making them realise that anything is possible. They are now talking about what other improvements they can make to their art space including the purchase of new tables to work on.

World Vision’s Indigenous Arts Project works closely with Barkly Regional Arts in Tennant Creek and other organisations such as Desart, Barkly Shire, the Department of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet and Charles Darwin University. It has attracted two major private donors and also relies on donations from the general public. Further funding is needed for the expansion of the project.

Take a look at a short video on the Epenarra Artists.