Town Camp Designs is a collection of products created by Tangentyere Artists, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists and Ewyenper Atwatye Artists.
We are a 100% Aboriginal owned and run art centre. All sales directly support the artists, with all profit going towards artists fees and future projects.
Tangentyere Artists
Established in 2005, Tangentyere Artists is a not-for-profit enterprise and a hub for art activities across the Town Camps (the name describing 18 Alice Springs Aboriginal housing associations). Through their art, Town Camp Artists communicate stories about their families, identity and lives. Their art practice aims to highlight the everyday experience of Aboriginal people in Central Australia. When sharing stories, Artists place themselves in the national conversation, working towards understanding and reconciliation. Tangentyere is an Arrernte word meaning coming together, working together.
Tangentyere Artists support emerging and established Town Camp Artists through our studio, outreach program and gallery. The art centre is committed to innovative, sustainable and fine art outcomes. To support young artists, the online store Town Camp Designs was created in 2020. Your purchase directly supports Town Camp Artists, with all profit going towards artists fees and future projects.
Image: Sally M. Nangala Mulda painting in the artists studio
Yarrenyty Arltere Artists
Larapinta Valley Town Camp
‘We have been working for many years doing our art. Working hard. When we sew, the stress can calm down. The art room is a place for us to talk, tell stories and to just keep going.’
—Marlene Rubuntja
Yarrenyty Arltere Artists is the vibrant beating heart of the Yarrenyty Arltere Town Camp in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Established in 2000 as a response to the chronic social issues the community were facing at that time, it has now, after many years of hard work and love, become an internationally recognized Art Centre. The beautiful soft sculptures that the Centre is renowned for, made from recycled bush dyed blankets, stitched and embellished, are held in major public and private collections across Australia and Internationally.
Working in soft sculptures, textiles, etchings and film this small but dynamic Art Centre has given opportunity, voice and income to people that too often find themselves marginalized.
Rich in personality and defiance, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists continues to be shaped by the artists and community that hold it so strongly and proudly as their own.
image (L-R): Dulcie Sharpe, Trudy Inkamala, Dulcie Raggett, Rhonda Sharpe, Marlene Rubuntja.
Ewyenper Atwatye Artists
Hidden Valley Town Camp
Ewyenper Atwatye is the Central Arrernte place name for Hidden Valley, and the chosen name for the enterprise established by the community of Hidden Valley Town Camp in 2015. It is a satellite project of Tangentyere Artists. Each year, Tangentyere Artists run workshops in collaboration with the community, and out of these workshops new designs are released at Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair in August and Desert Mob in Alice Springs in September.
All Ewyenper Atwatye Artists’ products are ethically produced on high quality, natural fabrics. Sales directly support Ewyenper Atwatye, with the profit returning to artist fees and investment in future projects. The 2015 Bush Car Take You Everywhere t-shirt has become iconic and synonymous with the project. It embodies the bold use of image and incorporation of text for which Ewyenper Atwatye Town Camp designs has become renowned.
In 2019 the Ewyenper Atwatye mob made their first foray into fashion at ‘From Country to Couture’ in Darwin. Tim McNamara’s Initi design appeared on model Magnolia Maymuru in Vogue Australia, and was also worn by Tangentyere Council staff member Shirleen Campbell when nominated for the Northern Territory Australian of the Year Awards.
In 2023 Magpie Goose, Meanjin (Brisbane) based fashion label, partnered with Ewyenper Atwatye artists to produce their newest clothing range. Magpie Goose worked with eleven artists from Ewyenper Atwatye Town Camp to share their unique stories and designs to be printed later this year onto textiles.
Christopher McMillan’s Inarlenge (Echidna) design was the first design to be launched this September at the Desert Mob symposium in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). The other 10 designs by Ewyenper Atwaye artists will drop over the next few months and into 2024. We hope you are as excited as we are to see this new collaboration.
image: Tim McNamara participating in a workshop at Ewyenper Atwatye/Hidden Valley Community Centre.
Thank you to Sunshine & Crocodiles for their continued support of our outreach programs.