Image: Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
‘Melting Point: Wati Wai!’ will be exhibited from 22 October 2027 to 16 January 2028 as a major sculptural presentation developed for Tarnanthi 2027. The presentation is shaped by Country, community and fire.
The project ignited at Mimili, in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, and brings together Mimili wati, or men, through Country, fire, cars and new ways of making.
Artists, community members and specialist technicians collect, melt and cast salvaged aluminium car parts on Country. The process joins artistic activity with community participation and specialist technical work, while using salvaged car parts as its material.
Mimili Maku Arts developed the project, which was initiated by Yankunytjatjara artist and cultural leader Robert Fielding and the Mimili Maku Wati Studio. In the project’s account, the car becomes a platform, a voice, a way of storytelling and a means of moving forward; metal becomes liquid and then becomes sculpture, with the possibility that it can become anything.
The exhibition is presented in partnership with Mimili Maku Arts. Tarnanthi is described as a continuing celebration of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.
