About

Arlpwe Art & Culture Centre sits on Kaytetye Country in Ali Curung, an Aboriginal community about 400km north of Alice Springs. The Art Centre opened in 2008, and the name ‘Arlpwe’ (pronounced Ahl-boa) was chosen for the Art Centre by the Traditional Owners. 

 

We represent artists from the Kaytetye, Alyawarr Warlpiri and Warumungu nation. Ali Curung, or Alekarenge, means Dog Dreaming.

 

Dreamtime stories often have a physical trace in the landscape ­— specific landscape features relate to specific parts of stories that travel through the landscape and the sky. In Kaytetye, the Dreamtime is called Altyerre. In Warlpiri Jukurrrpa, in Warumungu Winkara, and in Alyawarr Altyerr.

 

The landscape surrounding Ali Curung is very important for the artists here and local bush foods, bush medicines, water and animals are often the subject of their paintings. They were taught about the bush by their parents and extended families and know plants by their traditional names (for many members of the community, English is a second, third, fourth, or even fifth language).

 

You can easily visit the Art Centre in person as we are on a sealed road just 30kms (15 minutes drive) off the Stuart Highway, between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.