Details of Mona (Jukuna) Chuguna
About
Chuguna was born at Kurntumangujarti in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia.
"I paint my mother's and father's country . This is the country where I was living before. When I paint, it is this country that I am thinking about. In the hot weather time (October - January) we lived in one place, near living water. We ate kuyu (game) and mangarri (variety of bush foods).
My feeling for my country comes from the stories too. When I was a young girl my mother and father and the old people taught me about Ngarrangkarni (Dreamtime). When I go to my country I think about my parents walking around the waterholes and the japi (features around waterholes which indicate the presence of Kalpurtu the water snake).
I like going back to my country to see the waterholes. It is sad too because my father is buried there. I think about my country all of the time. I like to paint the desert, it makes me think about my parents. I paint my country, the mangarri and the waterholes. I give the names for the waterholes,for those places we used to walk to."
EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2009 My Country - Paintings from Yiyili and Fitzroy Crossing, Bridget McDonnell Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2007 Minyarti ngajukura ngurrara (This one my country), Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, NSW
2002 Melbourne Art Fair, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, NSW
GROUP
2010 Four Desert Women, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
2009 Mangkaja Artists 60 x 60, Randell Lane Fine Art, WA
2009 Sharing Difference on Common Ground, Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth, WA & Kimberely Aboriginal Artists
2009 Senior Artists from Fitzroy Crossing, Suzanne O'Connell Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2009 Mangkaja Survey Show, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
2008 Women on Country, Suzanne O'Connell Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2008 Wet n'Wild, Artkelch, Freiburg, Germany
2007 Jila, Jilji and Miyi, Cool-Art , Sunshine Coast, QLD
2007 Palya Art in Melbourne, The Barn, Melbourne, VIC
2006 Mona Chuguna and Cory Surprise, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2006 Purnta (promised marriage), Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT
2006 Depth & Divergence, Cullity Gallery, University of WA
2004 Broken Promises, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2004 This is still my country 10 years on, Perth International Arts Festival, Artplace, Perth, WA
2004 Ngurara Canvas, Perth Concert Hall, Perth International Arts Festival, WA
2004 Peter Skipper and Mona Chuguna, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2003 Jukuna Mona Chugana & Pijaju Peter Skipper, Artplace Gallery, Perth, WA
2003 Jaja and Jaja, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2003 Jila, Jumu, Jiwari and Wirrkuja, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA
2003 Jukuna Mona Chuguna and Pijaju Peter Skipper, Artplace Gallery, Perth, WA
2002 Group Show, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2002 Recent Works from Mangkaja, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2002 Wayampajarti, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2002 Short on Size, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2001 Past Modern, Short St. Gallery @ Australia Square, Sydney, NSW
2001 Ngurrara Canvas, National Gallery of Australia
2001 Mangkaja Ten Year Anniversary Exhibition, Tandanya, Adelaide, SA
2001 Short on Size, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2000 Ngarta and Jukuna, L'art sur la Place, Biennale de Lyon, France
2000 Short on Size, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
1999 Ngurrara, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
1999 Short on Size, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
1998 Wangarr and Mangki: Shadow and Spirit with Peter Skipper, Artplace Gallery, Perth, WA
1998 Group Show, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1997 Group Show, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1996 Heritage Commission Art Award, Old Parliment House, Canberra, ACT
1996 Group Show, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1995 Kimberley Art, Melbourne, VIC
1995 Group show, Australian Perspectives Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
1994 National Aboriginal Art Awards, Northern Territory Art Gallery and Museum, Darwin, NT
1994 Ngajakurra Ngurrara Minyarti, this is my country, Festival of Perth, Artplace Gallery, Perth, WA
1993 Mangkaja Women, Tandanya, Adelaide, SA
1993 Images of Power: Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley, National Gallery Victoria, VIC
1992 Group Show, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1991 Karrayili Tandanya, Adelaide, SA
POSITIONS HELD
Founding member of Mangkaja Arts and former Mangkaja Director
COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Australia
National Museum of Australia
Art Gallery of NSW
National Gallery of Victoria
Australian Print Workshop
Northern Territory University
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Charles Darwin University
Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
Bibliography
2009 Kimberley Aboriginal Artists, "Sharing Difference on Common Ground"
2009 FORM and the National Museu of Australia, "Canning Stock Route Project [Ngurra Kuju Walya, One Country One People]"
2009 Deutscher and HAckett, 25 March 2009, "Important Aboriginal Art"
2009 Sotheby's, 20th July 2009, "Aboriginal Art"
2007 FORM and the National Museu of Australia, "Canning Stock Route Project [Ngurra Kuju Walya, One Country One People]"
2004 Porta oberta al Dreamtime. Art Aborigen Contemporani d'Australia, Caxia de Girona, Girona, Spain
2003 The Painted Desert: The Fate of an Aboriginal Masterpiece, New Yorker Magazine, July 28 2003
2003 Martuwarra and Jila, Jumu Jiwari and Wirrkuja, Exhibition catalogue Culifty Gallery UWA, Perth/Mankaja Arts Resource Agency
2001 Painting up Big, The Ngurra Canvas, Kalja Now, National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Tandanya, SA
2000 Karrayili The History of Karrayili Adult Education Centre, IATSIS, Canberra
2000 Ngurrara Entry / Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art Oxford university Press and ANU
1998 Jila Painted Waters of the Great Sandy Desert, Video Documentary / SBS Television
1994 Ngajakurra Ngurrara Minyarti, This is my Country Exhibition Catalogue
1994 Ngajukura Ngurrara Minyarti, This is My Country, Exhibition catalogue
1993 Images of Power: Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley, Exhibition Catalogue
1993 Mangkaja Women's Exhibition Catalogue, Fremantle Art Centre
1991 Karrayili; Ten years on Exhibition Catalogue
