IN THE
FRAME
Meet the lodges connecting with communities through art.
WORDS UTE JUNKER
AT LONGITUDE 131°...
beauty comes in many forms. There is the stark beauty of the desert and its uncompromising colours: the rust-red of the rocks and the sand, the bright blue of the endless skies. Then there is the uplifting beauty of the lodge’s Indigenous art collection, an exuberant selection of works by a range of First Nations groups from the Central and Western deserts that sing a song of survival.
Dune Pavilion, Longitude 131º.
Senior Anangu artist Margaret Wells.
The onsite ceramics studio enables Anangu expression through the medium of clay.
At the lodge entrance, a clutch of colourful ceramics from the Ernabella Arts Community (Australia’s oldest, continuously running Indigenous art centre) makes a striking statement, as does the flock of birds by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers suspended in the spa. There are grand canvases from the Tjala Arts Centre hung on the walls, and traditional coolamon vessels from the Maruku Arts Centre scattered around the lodge. Indigenous art pieces are also for sale in the boutique.
“There’s a word for it: ngapartji ngapartji,” says Ernabella’s manager, Rowena Withers. “That means reciprocity, it’s a win-win. Everything and everyone gets something out of this.”
— ROWENA WITHERS, ERNABELLA MANAGER
The suites at Longitude 131º double as art galleries.
CLICK TO WATCH A PARTNERSHIP SET IN STONE
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and voices of people who have died.
Longitude 131º lies at the gateway to the dual World Heritage-listed wilderness of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
Artists produce work that depicts their Tjukurpa (sacred stories of Country and law).
Ernabella Arts is Australia’s oldest, continuously running Indigenous art centre.
For these far-flung communities where economic opportunities are limited, creating and selling art provides a much-needed income stream. It is also a means for communities to maintain and nourish their culture. Over the past decade, Baillie Lodges Founder Hayley Baillie has built a particularly strong relationship with the Ernabella Arts Centre based in Pukatja, on the APY lands just across the South Australian border.
That has included sponsoring a ceramicist to mentor Indigenous artists and teach them new techniques. The results have been remarkable, with artists such as Rupert Jack, Pepai Carroll and Derek Thompson all winning awards for their work, while Anne Nginyangka Thompson won last year’s prestigious Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) Indigenous Ceramics Award for her piece, Strong Family Connection.
Baillie also commissioned a number of large pieces for Longitude 131° including the 500 spinifex tiles lining the lodge bar and an installation of kulata, or spears, that sits in the spa. These large-scale works, completed by groups of male or female artists working together, help ensure that traditional skills are passed down to younger generations.
Form and function – Anangu kulata (spears) adorn Longitude 131º's Spa Kinara.
“There’s a word for it: ngapartji ngapartji,” says Ernabella’s manager, Rowena Withers. “That means reciprocity, it’s a win-win. Everything and everyone gets something out of this.”
Guests can visit the remote Ernabella Arts Centre either by four-wheel drive or by fixed-wing aircraft which cuts the 250km trip down to 30 minutes. Time your stay at the lodge just right and it may coincide with one of the residencies which sees artists creating work within the lodge. And of course, artworks are for sale in the lodge boutique with more than a million dollars worth of sales to date, with all proceeds going to the artists and back into community.
“Seeking out and working in partnership with local artists at each lodge location is a very satisfying, ongoing pursuit.”
— HAYLEY BAILLIE
Tjimpuna Williams' work has been displayed at the National Museum of Australia, Australian National Gallery, and the Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan, among others.
“Seeking out and working in partnership with local artists at each lodge location is a very satisfying, ongoing pursuit,” says Hayley Baillie.
“We see the benefits as twofold: the benefits that return to the community, helping to keep its culture alive while at the same time offering guests a real connection with the destination and its people.”
Longitude 131° isn’t the only lodge to invest in local art. As part of the rebuild of Kangaroo Island’s Southern Ocean Lodge, Hayley Baillie recently invited artists from the APY Arts Collective on a site visit as part of a commission to create pieces for the lodge.
The strong relationship between the Ernabella Arts Community and Longitude 131º belies the 250km that separates Pukatja and Yulara, geographically.
Other Australian artists whose work is displayed in lodges across the country include Emma Hack, Janelle Amos and Renee de Saxe, who are featured at The Louise in the Barossa Valley. At Silky Oaks Lodge in the Daintree, Catherine Nelson’s digital photocollages and Indigenous artist Danie Mellor’s pieces reflect the lodge’s lush surroundings.
At Lake House Daylesford, guests can admire co-owner Allan Wolf-Tasker’s artworks, inspired by the area’s landscapes and waterways, and the family passion for produce and culture of hospitality, which hang throughout the lodge.
Ceramic tiles at Silky Oaks Lodge created by artists from Yalanji Arts Centre.
LOCAL CONNECTIONS
Local is a major focus of the lodges. From employing and sourcing locally to partnering with local businesses to deliver experiences like swimming with whale sharks at Sal Salis, diving the Great Barrier Reef from qualia or artist in residence program at Capella Lodge.
Many of the lodges have built particularly strong relationships with First Nations businesses. Silky Oaks Lodge have forged a partnership with Kuku Yalanji man Juan Walker and Walkabout Cultural Adventures, Spicers Peak Lodge offer a heli-fishing excursion with a Quandamooka Elder, and Cape Lodge offer walking tours led by Wadandi man Josh Whiteland.
The halo effect of this is that the 250 or so experiences delivered by the lodges engage with over 3,800 local businesses – producers, distillers, artists, specialist guides, designers and more. They all make up the distinct nature of each uniquely Australian location.
Spicers Peak Lodge in Queensland's south-east offers heli-fishing excursions with a Quandamooka Elder.
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