- Artist: Tristam Malbunka
- Art Centre: Yarrenyty-Arltere
- Region: Central Australia
Artwork Story
Tristam was born at Hermannsburg (Ntaria) west of Alioce Springs, but was raised in his mother and uncle’s country of Palm Valley. Tristam grew up hunting and catching wild horses. His grandfather Norman Ratara was an artist from Hermannsburg, who painted with watercolours. Tristam remembers watching him paint as a small child, but never painting himself. It was not until Tristam enrolled in the Batchelor run art classes at Yarrenyty Arltere Learning Centre in 2002 that he first made drawings and paintings. Tristam has since gone on to discover a passion and talent for making the soft sculptures which have become part of the identity of the Yarrenyty Arltere Artists. His sculptures, which feature horses, camp dogs and cowboys, reflect the themes of life in and around Alice Springs. He has also produced dry point etchings which depict beautiful desert landscapes and similar themes to his soft sculptures.
Tristam is an artist with Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, a Western Arrernte community arts enterprise. It is part of the Yarrenyty Arltere Learning Centre; an intergenerational program that began in 2000 as a response to the chronic social distress faced by families. It has helped people to rebuild lives. The art centre has been at the heart of this healing. It is an Indigenous owned and managed organisation. Profits from sales go to the artists and towards the purchase of materials.
Yarrenyty Arltere Artists