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Anwar Young

Anwar Young

Anwar works across traditional punu crafting, contemporary sculptural practice, new media and photography.

He engages with traditional men’s punu (wood) crafting mediums to create contemporary works that explore the challenges faced living in a remote community. Anwar was one of the first younger generation of men involved in the Kulata Tjuta Project, initiated by his grandfathers, Willy Kaika Burton and Frank Young in Amata Community. This cross-generational project was a cultural preservation initiative developed by the senior men of Amata to spark economic, artistic and cultural value in the traditional craft of making Kulata – spears. The Kulata Tjuta Project has subsequently spread across the APY Lands. Currently Anwar is pursuing his interest in film and new media in a project supported by state funding for the production of a short film that explores his own cultural identity and place in traditional and contemporary Amata.

Recent exhibitions include Nganampa Kililpil: Our Stars at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, 2016; and LORE: Visual Language of Cultural Identity, Raft South, Hobart, 2016;

Anwar was nominated for the 33rd Telstra National Indigenous Art Award at the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory for his work Kulata Tjuta Warmala (Army of many spears). This work saw Anwar hand craft and paint thirty-three spears representing the thirty-three young men in Amata community who are continuing to learn the traditions of Anangu Watti. Anwar is the youngest Director of Tjala Arts Centre and is the founder of the Tjala Arts Wati Yangupala Cultural Club.