She is also an artist working with a disability and although Juluwarlu have always supported her, we are just starting to understand it and explore it more.
To answer these interview questions, we all sat down together to help verbalise Alice’s practice and experience. We are elders and artists: Wendy Hubert, Judith Coppin, Jean Norman and June Djiagween, and our Juluwarlu CEO, Lorraine Coppin.
We are sitting in the art room at Ngurrawaana having our breakfast, the temperature is cool and it’s been raining all night. Alice is painting, a warm cup of tea by her side. There are seven dogs at our feet and everyone is feeling very relaxed.
Alice will be exhibiting her paintings at the National Indigenous Art Fair in Sydney at the Juluwarlu Art Group stall. It is her first visit to NSW.
What does it mean to you to be part of the National Indigenous Art Fair?
Lorraine Coppin: This is the first time Alice going to NSW. It will be the longest time she has been on a plane. She is excited about going to the galleries and loves meeting the people who want to buy her artwork.
How did you first become interested in art?
Judith Coppin: When she was a girl and lost her husband and had the accident that caused her to lose her voice, she lost so much. Then she found her passion for art and love in that. She has been painting a long time and it is the love of her life.
Jean Norman: Me and her started painting at Juluwarlu the same time. Alice’s cousin encouraged us to paint, we started and never want to stop.
What is your preferred medium or artistic style?
Wendy Hubert: Alice just paints, it is what she loves best.
Can you describe your creative process?
Wendy Hubert: Guru is jumbuu, which is what we call left-handed.
Jean Norman: When Alice is comfortable with people and has her family around her, we get her canvas and ask her what colours she wants. Then she paints happily, all day every day.
Wendy Hubert: She paints quite aggressive. It’s all she wants to do, we need to get out of her way! (laughing)
How does your Indigenous heritage influence your artwork?
Wendy Hubert: We are Yindjibarndi, we have our cultural Burndud. When Alice put her grandsons through law, she performed the ceremony of dancing around in circles when boys returned.
Judith Coppin: This is when she started thinking of the Burndud and painting it.
Wendy Hubert: She is painting her culture.
Are there any specific themes or subjects that you explore in your artwork?
Lorraine Coppin: The Burndud circle, an important site and story on Yindjibarndi ngurra (land) and in Yindjibarndi culture. The Burndud was the first law ground made by the Marrga (creation spirits) who made our language, culture and law back in Ngurra Nyujunggamu (when the world was soft).
Alice paints the Burndud repetitively, using a range of striking bold colours. This symbol and her paintings have become iconic across the Pilbara.
Alice also paints the bajila (caper bush), a native Australian plant found in the Pilbara. It is known as a good source of bush tucker, bush medicine and food for emus. Every bajila painting has its own life, each holds Alice’s deep attachment to her ngurra and the plants that give her joy. She describes the process of eating the fruits with her cousin Banyji Pansy, saying that ‘when you eat the fruit, you suck the flesh and the seeds are rolled around in your mouth and then spat out. Where the seeds fall, new plants grow.’
Can you describe any mentors or influences who have inspired your creative journey?
Jean Norman: Alice’s family is very important: her best friend Wendy Hubert and her daughter Mary.
Wendy Hubert: When she is surrounded by people she loves she is happy, when she is happy she paints beautiful Burnduds.
June Djiagween: Lorraine Coppin, Juluwarlu’s CEO, has been integral in starting Juluwarlu, conducting regular on country trips and keeping the art centre open so the artists have a place to paint. It is because of her drive, care and passion for her elders that the artists have a place to paint, support and opportunities like travelling to art fairs.
Can you share any personal experiences or stories that have shaped your artistic practice as an artist?
Alice Guiness: Burndud. Man sing the song and women dancing.
June Djiagween: She loves when all the family come together, for the dancing and the law.
Everyone is together, culture is strong. When you’re dancing the Burndud, your feet glide on the sand, there’s a special technique. It makes everyone want to get up and try. And all the extended family come from far away, it’s a fun time.
Are there any specific places or environments that inspire your artwork?
Lorraine Coppin: The first-ever dancing circle (we call it Burndud) is at the place called Birlinbirlin, a smooth, flat circular area of rock lying in the riverbed. The sandy area around the circle was worn in the rock by the dancing feet of the Marrga women. They danced around the Marrga men who sang the first law ceremony back when the world was soft. Later, when all the birds and animals and people had been created, the world became hard and the path where the Marrga women had danced was set in the bedrock for all time.
Event: The National Indigenous Art Fair
Date: Saturday 1 July – Sunday 2 July 2023
Time: 10.00am – 5.00pm
Location: Overseas Passenger Terminal, 130 Argyle St, The Rocks, Sydney
Entry: Entry by gold coin donation
Website: niaf.com.au
Facebook: facebook.com/
