Rebecca Hossack with Haasts Bluff artists
The rocky outcrop of Haasts Bluff is located amongst the mountain ranges of the Central Desert, some 140 miles north west of Alice Springs. Established as a Lutheran settlement in the mid 1930s, in subsequent decades aboriginal groups from the Luritja, Kukatja, Western Arrernte and Pintupi peoples, gravitated, or were moved, there. But due to lack of water the settlement's existence was always precarious.
Since 1960, however, it has developed as a culturally strong community. At the beginning of the 1970s various elders fom Haasts Bluff painted at Papunya. And, with the spread of the Desert Painting movement, an Art Centre was established at Haasts Bluff - or Ikuntji - in 1992. The distinctive mountainous landscapes (and blue skies) of the area are frequently represented in the bold - almost graphic - forms of Ikuntji art, alongside more traditional, schematic, representations of the land.
Amongst the leading artists of the community are Narputta Nangala, Long Tom Tjapanangka and his wife, Mitjili Napurrula.
In 2000, the Rebecca Hossack Gallery mounted an exhibition of work by Long Tom Tjapanangka and Mitjili Napurrula.
