Mitjili is an established artist from the Haasts Bluff region, an area 200km west of Alice Springs. Her half brother, Turkey Tolson, and husband, Long Tom Tjapanangka, are also well known artists.
Mitjili began painting in the early 1990s. While she first followed the Papunya Tula style of painting she soon developed her own, highly recognisable style. This consists of simplified geometric designs in bold, block colours.
Mitjili’s works depict her father’s country, Uwalki, an area to the west of Haasts Bluff. Mitjili was taught the key imagery to depict this country by her mother, who would draw in the sand.
The Dreamings that inform her works relate to creation of spears, very important to men’s ceremonial practice. The works depict Watiya Tjuta, the trees that provide the wood used to create such ceremonial items.
Mitjili’s work has been exhibited throughout Australia and overseas, and is held in many important public and private collections.
COLLECTIONS:
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Artbank
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
Edith Cowan University Art Collection, Perth
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
EXHIBITIONS:
1993, 1994, 1996, 1998 Australian Heritage Art Award, Canberra
1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
1994 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1994 Hotel Shangri-la and Australian High Commision, Singapore
1994, 1998 Adelaide Fringe Festival
1994 Art Gallery of N.S.W., Sydney
1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
1995 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1995, 1997, 1999 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1996 Gallerie Australis, Adelaide
1996 "The Meeting Place" - touring exhibition, Australia
1996, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 Aboriginal Art Galerie Bahr, Speyer, Germany
1997 Goteborgs Konstforening, Goteborg, Sweden
1997 Arnhem Land, The Netherlands
1997 Alliance Francaise, Canberra
1997 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1998 Art Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1998 Spazio Pitti Arte Florence, Italy
1998 Framed Gallery, Darwin
1998 Gallerie Dusseldorf, Perth
1998 Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
1998 Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne
1998 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1999 Flinders Art Museum Flinders University, Adelaide
1999 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, U.S.A.
2000 Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
2000 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2001 Galerie Knud Grothe, Charlottenlund, Denmark
Awards:
1997, finalist 14th Telstra NATSIAA
1999 Alice Prize (Central Australian Art Award), Alice Springs