ABOUT UTOPIA
Utopia is located 270km northeast of Alice Springs and is the traditional land of the Eastern Anmatyarre and Alyawarr people. It was named Utopia by the first white settlers in the early 1920’s.
The area covers around 5000 sq km and is home to about 2000 Aboriginal people. The 2 main languages spoken in this area are Alyawarr and Anmatyerre. For most of the people that live here, English is their third, sometimes fourth, language.
This region is loosely termed Utopia whereby much of the land lies on Aboriginal owned land called Urapuntja. Utopia comprises of several large and small communities.
There is a medium sized general store and petrol station that sits in the heart of Utopia. Any other groceries or supplies residents usually travel to Alice Springs. The road is very rough and the drive takes around 5 hours one way.
Utopia sits just north of the Tropic of Capricorn and it has a very dry climate with very little rainfall. The summers are long and hot with temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. The winter months are often below freezing of a night time with mild temperatures during the day.
From the late 1800’s much of the Northern Territory was being settled by white man who bought cattle with them.
When white man first settled in Utopia in the early 1920’s, the Aboriginal people were forced to move away from their home lands and ceremonial sites. The area was then used as a cattle station. Most of the men worked as stockmen and the women helped domestically in exchange for food and clothing.
In 1979 a successful land claim hearing resulted in the community gaining permanent legal title to the leasehold and moved back into the area.
In 1978 the women of Utopia were introduced to the art of batik, working with silk and wax. This became a good source of income. Then in the late 1980's artists started to put acrylic paint on canvas. Initially the artists were quite traditional in their painting techniques, using fairly large dot or linear work, a style that showed a cultural story of Dreamtime or Bush Tucker.
It didn't take long before many artists became bolder in style, colour and flair. The art continued to change and evolve. More colour was introduced and more abstract work developed, but always having that underlying cultural meaning. It is this colourful, contemporary art that Utopia is renowned for to this day.
There are many artists in the region, all producing work that has great significance. Whether it be traditional or abstract, in the form of dots or lines or a mixture of these styles, there is always a sense of pride and achievement in their work.
Utopia is located 270km northeast of Alice Springs and is the traditional land of the Eastern Anmatyarre and Alyawarr people. It was named Utopia by the first white settlers in the early 1920’s.
The area covers around 5000 sq km and is home to about 2000 Aboriginal people. The 2 main languages spoken in this area are Alyawarr and Anmatyerre. For most of the people that live here, English is their third, sometimes fourth, language.
This region is loosely termed Utopia whereby much of the land lies on Aboriginal owned land called Urapuntja. Utopia comprises of several large and small communities.
There is a medium sized general store and petrol station that sits in the heart of Utopia. Any other groceries or supplies residents usually travel to Alice Springs. The road is very rough and the drive takes around 5 hours one way.
Utopia sits just north of the Tropic of Capricorn and it has a very dry climate with very little rainfall. The summers are long and hot with temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. The winter months are often below freezing of a night time with mild temperatures during the day.
From the late 1800’s much of the Northern Territory was being settled by white man who bought cattle with them.
When white man first settled in Utopia in the early 1920’s, the Aboriginal people were forced to move away from their home lands and ceremonial sites. The area was then used as a cattle station. Most of the men worked as stockmen and the women helped domestically in exchange for food and clothing.
In 1979 a successful land claim hearing resulted in the community gaining permanent legal title to the leasehold and moved back into the area.
In 1978 the women of Utopia were introduced to the art of batik, working with silk and wax. This became a good source of income. Then in the late 1980's artists started to put acrylic paint on canvas. Initially the artists were quite traditional in their painting techniques, using fairly large dot or linear work, a style that showed a cultural story of Dreamtime or Bush Tucker.
It didn't take long before many artists became bolder in style, colour and flair. The art continued to change and evolve. More colour was introduced and more abstract work developed, but always having that underlying cultural meaning. It is this colourful, contemporary art that Utopia is renowned for to this day.
There are many artists in the region, all producing work that has great significance. Whether it be traditional or abstract, in the form of dots or lines or a mixture of these styles, there is always a sense of pride and achievement in their work.