Woollahra Small Sculpture Art Prize

12 September – 20 October 2024
Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf
Gadigal & Birrabirragal Country, Double Day, NSW

We are excited to announce that Marlene Connelly and Hazel Roy have been selected from over 750 artist entries as finalists in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize for their work titled 'Kaltukatjara Tractor'! 

 

“When we were tji-tji (children) at school, we were best friends. Back then there was no school bus, so when school was finished that tractor would come to pick up the kids and take them home! My uncle, tjilpi (old man), was driving it. During the school holidays we would all jump on the tractor- grandmother, mother, father, kids- and camp out as a family. We would pack it with food, bringing lots of things to spend the night, my mother packing the blankets in the trailer. Sometimes we would drive over the hill from Docker River for a picnic, or go ride through the gap to the water hole to go swimming. I remember that tractor most during holiday times. Even one Easter time we used it to go looking for Easter eggs in the bush! We were driving through the bush when we saw a man dressed up as a rabbit. That was our own private tractor, and we loved it! Now that tractor has gone, must be somewhere in the bush. But the trailer is still sitting at the Docker River tip, we can remember it there.”

– Marlene Connelly 2024 

 

Marlene is a Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara woman who lives and grew up in the remote community of Kaltukatjara (Docker River). Marlene learnt to weave from her aunty, Patricia Orgula, and began weaving herself in 2004. She has continued to make baskets with Tjanpi ever since, with a weaving career spanning 20 years. The Kaltukatjara Tractor is her first sculptural work.

Also from Kaltukatjara, Hazel Roy is a Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara woman who grew up between Pukatja (Ernabella) and Kaltukatjara. She grew up watching family member around her weaving baskets and making sculptures with Tjanpi Desert Weavers. The Kaltukatjara Tractor is her first ever Tjanpi work!

The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is held at the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf on Gadigal and Birrabirragal Country in NSW. The winner will be announced on 12 September.

Pictured is Marlene Connelly in Kaltukatjara with the 'Kaltukatjara Tractor'.
Image by Riley McPherson.