Sonia Kurarra
Mangkaja Arts Resource AgencySonia Kurarra grew up in the river country at Yungngora (Noonkanbah). As a young woman she assisted with teaching art to children at the Yungngora Kindergarten. They used to take the children out to the Sandy Billabong and teach them how to paint and dance. There is an ngarrangkarni [Dreamtime] snake that lives in the billabong. His name is Nangurra.
Sonia began painting at Mangkaja in the early 1990s working mostly on paper. Since 2008, Sonia has been working predominantly on canvas and her practice has become more recognised and included in major awards. Sonia’s work is now in most major collections within Australia and highly sought after by both national and international galleries and collectors.
Sonia paints the sandy billabong country along the stretch of the Fitzroy River that runs directly behind the community. After the food waters recede, there are billabongs that hold a plentiful supply of parlka [barramundi], kurlumajarti [catish] and bream. She paints gapi [fish], parrmarr [rocks] where the Fish is cooked, ngurti [coolamon] and a karli [boomerang].
Sonia paints these images over and over as though they are etched into her psyche; works that are linear representations in monotones and others that are layers lathered on with wild and confident brush strokes and mark making. These contemporary compositions display an outstanding understanding of colour and composition. Sonia is one of the cornerstones of Mangkaja Arts and contemporary art making for the Fitzroy Valley region.
AWARDS
2021 Hadley’s Art Prize Hadley’s Orient Hotel,Hobart, Tas.
2021 38th Telstra NATSIAA AwardFinalist, Darwin, NT
2020 37th Telstra NATSIAA AwardFinalist, Darwin, NT
2019 36th Telstra NATSIAA AwardFinalist, Darwin, NT
2019 Dobell Drawing Prize Sydney, NSW
2018 Hadley’s Art Prize Finalist, Hobart, Tas
2018 35th Telstra NATSIAA AwardFinalist, Darwin, NT
2018 Wynne Art Prize Finalist, Sydney, NSW
2016 Port Hedland Art Awards Port Hedland, WA
2015 BankWest Art Prize
2015 Overall winner – Kimberley Art Prize
| 2012 | Winner of Most Outstanding Work – Hedland Art Awards |
| 2010 | Winner of Best Indigenous work – WA Art Awards |
| 2010 | Winner of Best Indigenous work – Hedland Art Awards |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Sonia Kurarra Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, NSW
| 2020
2016 2014 2014 |
Sonia Kurarra
SONIA Sonia Kurarra Sonia Kurarra |
Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, NSW
HANGING VALLEY, QVC, Melbourne, Vic ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery, Melbourne, Vic |
| 2013 | Sonia Kurarra | Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, NSW |
| 2012/13 | Sonia Kurarra | FORM Gallery, Perth, WA |
| 2012 | Sonia Kurarra | Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery, Melbourne, Vic |
| 2011 | Sonia Kurarra | Short St Gallery, Broome , WA |
| 2010 | Sonia Kurarra | Randall Lane Fine Art, Perth, WA |
| 2009 | Sonia Kurarra | Randell Lane Fine Art, Perth, WA |
| 2009 | Sonia Kurarra | Gallery Gondwana, Sydney, NSW |
| 2009 | Sonia Kurarra | Short St Gallery, Broome , WA |
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Ten Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney
2020 Mangkaja Stars, Legacy to Uphold Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium
| 2020
2019 2019 2019 |
Mangkaja Perspex
Creative Growth Artists Journey through Culture-Tarnanthi Meeting Places: Mangkaja Arts and Creative Growth |
Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney
Outsider Art Fair NYC Redot @Nrthspace, Adelaide Creative Growth Oakland, CA
|
| 2019
2019 2018 2017
2017 2016 2016 2015 2015 2015 2015 2014 2013 2011 |
The National 2019
Desert River Sea Two Sisters Mangkaja Artists – Tanarnthi
Mangkaja Waters PINAKARRILUNY MARNALUNYA NGALIMPAKURA ARTISTS JARLU PALU WANTINYA Salon De Refuse Bankwest Art Prize Tarnathi ‘Works of Significance’ Salon de Refuse Kimberley Art Prize Bankwest Art Prize Australian and Torres Strait Islander Award Sonia Kurarra and Cory Surprise |
MCA Sydney
AGWA Perth Aboriginal Pacific Art Sydney Art Gallery of South Australia, SA
Short St Gallery, Broome, WA ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore
Darwin, NT Perth, WA Tandanya, Adelaide, SA Derby, WA Bankwest Art Gallery, Perth, WA Museum of Northern Territory, Darwin, NT Aboriginal and Pacific Art, NSW |
| 2009 | Mangkaja Artists 60×60 | Randell Lane Fine Art, Perth, WA |
| 2009 | Sharing Difference on Common Ground | Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth, WA and Kimberley Aboriginal Artists |
| 2009 | Shalom Gamarada | Caspary Conference Centre, University of NSW |
| 2009 | East Meets West | Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT |
| 2009 | Senior Artists from Fitzroy Crossing | Suzanne O’Connell Gallery, Brisbane, QLD |
| 2009 | Mangkaja Survey Show | Short St Gallery, Broome, WA |
| 2009 | Emerging and Re-emerging | Outstation, Darwin, NT |
| 2009 | Margaret River Meets Fitzroy Crossing | Tunbridge Gallery, Margaret River, WA |
| 2008 | Bendi Lango | The Indigenous Scholarship Fund,
Sydney and Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD |
| 2008 | Mangkaja Artists WA | Randell Lane Fine Art, WA |
| 2008 | Women on Country | Suzanne O’Connell Gallery, Brisbane, QLD |
| 2008 | Divas of The Desert | Gallery Gondwana, Sydney, NSW |
| 2008 | Marnintu Maparnana [Women Painting] | ReDot Gallery, Singapore |
| 2008 | Wet n’ Wild | Artkelch, Freiburg, Germany
|
| 2007 | Bendi Lango | The Indigenous Scholarship Fund,
Sydney and Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD |
| 2007 | Women Artists of Fitzroy Crossing | Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT |
| 2003 | Water and Food | Cullity Gallery,
University of Western Australia |
COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Victoria
The Art Gallery NSW
The Art Gallery of WA
National Gallery of Australia
Utrect Aboriginal Art Museum
The Lepley Collection, Perth
Kerry Stokes Collection
Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
Geraldton Refional Art Gallery
Murdoch University Art Collection
Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art
Peter and Agnes Cooke Collection
Bertrand Estrangin Collection
