Keringke Arts

Keringke Art Centre is situated in the community of Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), and was established in 1989.

The community was named after the stand of bloodwood trees that grow at the foot of the hills to the west, and Keringke Arts is named after an important and ancient rock-hole, that was formed when the ancestor Kangaroo was passing through this land.

Keringke Arts today produces a wide variety of art products, reflecting the colour, rhythm and ambience of the land that is home for the Eastern Arrernte artists. The artists are represented nationally and internationally in many collections, and the work is prized for its unique style and authentic connection to an ancient living culture.

Various painters have developed this style of painting at Keringke Arts over a 30 years period. The artists use pattern, colour, shape and design to create paintings that depict their sense of country, culture and self.

These shapes and designs may have features common to ancient rock art found throughout the traditional country of Eastern Arrernte. Some designs may reflect sand and body paintings. Most commonly, in this contemporary form, the art is not attributed to any particular thing, but expresses the life world of the particular artist.

The Eastern Arrernte cultural identity includes a dreaming, a skin name, a place, as well as family name, language, and community. These things are not necessarily reflected in the design or outcome of each painting.