Exhibition of National Finalists Opening Night and Prize Presentation Thursday 12th October 6pm - 8pm Exhibition Continues 12th - 22nd October 11am - 5pm Cooee Art Leven 17 Thurlow Street Redfern Cooee Art Leven Award We are proud to host and be a sponsor for the 2023 Paddington Art Prize and to announce the Cooee Art Leven Award A 2024 solo exhibition for two artists from the list of finalists with unique, yet complimentary approaches to landscape painting from Director Mirri Leven. The artists will also receive $2,500 each toward the creation of the exhibition. Weigh In We want to hear your opinion! Let us know which Paddington Art Prize Finalists you would most like to see exhibited at Cooee Art Leven's Redfern galleries. Weigh in by clicking the polling link below.

Cooee Art Leven proud to be hosting the 2023 Sydney Oceanic Art Fair Recognising our geographic location in the Pacific, this expanded Fair will appeal to a wider, more diverse range of art lovers and collectors of both historic and contemporary art from First Peoples globally. The fair will include booths displaying objects and artworks from PNG, Australia, South East Asia and many other countries. For more information go to: https://www.oceanicartsociety.org.au/event/sydney-oceanic-art-fair-2023/

The Paddington Art Prize 2023 Exhibition of National Finalists October 12 - 22, 11am - 5pm Opening Night and Prize Presentation Thursday 12th October 6pm - 8pm We are proud to host the 2023 Paddington Art Prize. The $30,000 National Acquisitive Prize is awarded annually for a painting inspired by the Australian landscape. Established in 2004 by Arts Patron, Marlene Antico OAM, this National prize takes its place among the country’s most lucrative and highly coveted painting prizes. Oceanic Art Fair Cooee Art Leven proud to be hosting the 2023 Sydney Oceanic Art Fair October 29th Recognising our geographic location in the Pacific, this expanded Fair will appeal to a wider, more diverse range of art lovers and collectors of both historic and contemporary art from First Peoples globally. The fair will include booths displaying objects and artworks from PNG, Australia, South East Asia and many other countries. Auction | Wednesday 8th November Indigenous & Oceanic Art Collection from the Rod Menzies Estate Melbourne VIP Preview 26-27 October Sydney Auction Gala 2 November 6-8pm Sydney Auction Viewing 2-8 November Auction 8 November, 7pm Ngarukuruwala Kapi Murrukupuni (we sing to the land) Barks & paintings from the Artists of Munupi 16 November - 9 December 2023 Exhibition Opening: 16 November 6-8pm WaterWays Dual solo exhibitions for artists Joanne Currie & Joshua Bonson 14 December - 13 January 2024 Exhibition Opening: 14 December 6-8pm

Our booth was furnished by our neighbours at Anibou. If you missed us at the fair, a selection of works is still available, matched here with a few elegant pieces generously loaned to us by Anibou. Konstantina (Kate Constantine) Region: Gadi/Eora Language: Gadigal Tarra, 2023 acrylic on linen, 101 x 101 cm 20621 Provenance Direct from artist, NSWCooee Art Leven, Sydney NSW Story As a saltwater woman, the place I feel most connected to on my Country is the water, specifically the Harbour. Arguably the place for me that has the most powerful engery is Tarra. Tarra is the point today known as Dawes Point, named for the gentle and kind Lieutenant Commander and Offical Astronomer in the First Fleet. He was stationed here for years, at what was considered, the outer most limit of occupation so that he could work through his telescopes without the obstruction of light from the camp. The young man befriended Patyegarang a young Gadigal woman with whom he had a close connection. It is because of this friendship that I today have been able to learn my traditional language which was long thought extinct! See Dawes and Patyegarang shared more than friendship, they shared language, and it is the small notebooks and journals that Dawes kept of this time that Professor Jaky Troy at USYD has been able breathe life back into our original Gadigal language. Visit Tarra, you will her energy and understand entirely. Simon, Kitty Napanangka Region: Lajamanu, NT Language: Warlpiri Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) 2023 acrylic on linen, 85 x 50 cm Provenance Warnayaka Art, NT Cat No. 707-23 Cooee Art Leven, Sydney NSW Story Mina Mina is near Lake Mackay. It's main dreaming story is the karrpanu, the digging stick, famously recorded in the Kanakurlangu clan group dreaming songline. Warlpiri call that songline, yupunju. The women travelled eastward into Anmatyerre tribe lands in the Jukurrpa, by being, the sky and earth, night and day women created or gave birth to almost everything bringing them into existence. From raining clouds, waterholes, waterways, everything was danced and sung into existence. Then everything was left to be dug up with the karrpanu so one could feed on the knowledge about everything within the Warlpiri homelands. The ultimate karrpanu is the pointer stars near the Southern Cross stars. When the pointer star touches down in the horizon then the Warlpiri learning cycle begins again. Thomas, Rover Joolama Region: Kimberley, WA Language: Kukatja Untitled, 1993 natural earth pigments on canvas, 90 x 120 cm 20666 Provenance Waringarri, Aboriginal Arts, WA Cat No. AP 3746 Private Collection, Vic Cooee Art Leven, Sydney NSW Accompanied by a faxed copy of the original certificate of authenticity Story Rover Thomas lived a traditional bush life with his family at Well 33 until he moved, at 10 years of age, with his family to Billiluna Station, where he was initiated, after his mother's death. After working for a period as a jackeroo on the Canning Stock Route he became a fencing contractor in Wyndham and later worked as a stockman in the Northern Territory and the fringes of the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts. In his later years, he settled and began painting in the Warmun community at Turkey Creek.While Rover's artworks can generally be characterised as map-like depictions of country executed with natural earth pigments in a graphic Kimberley style, they generally carry historic and social connotations.

DR CHRISTIAN THOMPSON AO was born 1978 in Gawler, South Australia. He is a Bidjara man with Irish & Chinese ancestry. In 2010, Thompson made history when he became the first Aboriginal Australian to be admitted into the University of Oxford in its 900-year history. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (Fine Art), Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK; a Master of Theatre, Amsterdam School of Arts, Das Arts, The Netherlands; a Master of Fine Art (Sculpture) and Honours (Sculpture), both RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia; and a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. In 2015, he was mentored by performance artist Marina Abramovic. Thompson has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, having been included in exhibitions such as ‘Australia’ at the Royal Academy for the Arts, London; ‘We Bury Our Own’, The Pitt Rivers Museum; 'SOLOS', Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, Valencia Institute of Modern Art, Valencia, Spain; ‘The Other and Me’, The Sharjah Museum, United Arab Emirates, ‘Hijacked III’; QUOD Gallery, Derby, United Kingdom; ‘Shadow life’ Bangkok Art and Cultural centre, Bangkok, Thailand; and ‘The Beauty of Distance/ Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age’, 17th Biennale of Sydney. In 2018 he was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the visual arts as a sculptor, photographer, video and performance artist, and as a role model for young Indigenous artists.

Interview supplied by Japinka Aboriginal Art Josie (Josepha) Petrick Kemarre is an Anmatyerre-speaking artist from Central Australia. She divides her time between her family’s traditional land and the town of Alice Springs. In this interview, she talks about seeing a witch doctor, her painting and family. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Santa Teresa and left when I was married at 16. I moved to an outstation on MacDonald Downs near Harts Range. My brother still lives in Santa Teresa. When I moved to Utopia I only spoke Aranda but learned Anmatyerre. They are similar languages. You’ve been away visiting family? Yes, I was at Tennant Creek. I came back on Sunday. I’ve been crook for a few weeks. Now I feel better. A witch doctor made me better. Is that the first time you’ve seen a lady witch doctor? Yes. She wasn’t a white doctor, she’s an Aboriginal one, a strong one, a Warlpiri woman from Ali Curung. She fixed my leg. She takes away all the sand from inside. I’m going to see an Aranda witch doctor woman in Hidden Valley Camp. Did she fix you with bush medicine? Yes, bush medicine. Some person was jealous of me. She told me you’ve got a burnt feather on your back inside the skin. The witch doctor removed the feather. I feel ok now. The witch doctor really helped you? She fixed the pain in my back and shoulder too. I rubbed bush medicine all over. My daughter helped me rub it on my back. It made me strong. So you’ve had a new painting, what is that about? It’s a great big one. It’s called bush flower. I paint in layers. In this one I do a red layer first, then an orange layer over the top and then yellow ochre over the top. I use orange and red and yellow, sometimes blue and pink. How long did this painting take? This painting took me over six hours so I’m going to rest tomorrow. What are the other stories you paint? I paint bush plum too. Do other members of your family paint? Yes, my daughter is a visual artist just like me. She paints bush plum in orange and red and yellow. When did you start painting? A long long time ago. I taught myself mostly. I also saw old Emily and Gloria and Kathleen Petyarre painting. When you are out bush where do you live? Number 5 Bore. I have lots of family there. When you are out at Number 5 Bore do people still look for bush tucker? Yes, bush onion, bush banana and goanna. Sometimes we have rabbit and kangaroo. The men go shooting and bring them back. You come into Alice Springs a lot, why is that? I like to come to see my family here. How many grandchildren do you have now? There’s nine of them, 6 grandsons and 3 granddaughters. Sometimes you’re called Josie and other times Josepha. My real name is Josepha. I sign my paintings Josie but I might change that to Josepha. Josepha is my proper name. What do you want people to think about your paintings? I want them to think that my paintings are nice paintings. How does painting make you feel? Happy. It makes me feel good.

In November 1973, at the age of 25, Gillian and Watson McAllister emigrated to Sydney, Australia from Glasgow, Scotland. After a year in Sydney they bought a Kombi van and set off on their ‘adventure of a lifetime’ around Australia. They headed north, just before cyclone Tracey destroyed Darwin, and washed up in Perth where they lived for the next 15 years. In 1990, with Gillian’s long-service leave from the WA Education Dept, they resumed their journey round Australia and drove their old Land Rover to Kalgoorlie and Adelaide before heading north to Alice Springs and back to Darwin. Before too long, with their skills and experience, they became the Heads of Girls Boarding and Boys Boarding respectively at ‘the jewel in the crown’ for Aboriginal education in those days, Kormilda College in Darwin. There were 360 boarders when the school was full – close to 300 were aboriginal children from all over the Northern Territory, many from remote communities in Arnhem Land and around the Central Desert. Gillian and Wason were therefore responsible for approximately 120 traditional Aboriginal students in each of their houses. This started their interest in aboriginal culture – They loved the kids and met their families when they came “up to town”. They even hosted a few parents and artists in the available bedsits in the dorms. Mervin Rubuntja and his family became a special friend and was artist-in-residence for a short period of time. Through their work they went on to visit Oenpelli, Maningrida, Markolijban, the Tiwi Islands (Milikapiti and Pularumpi), Yuendumu, Nyirrpi, Willowra, Lajamanu, Alice Springs, Amoonguna, Ti-Tree, Kalkarindji, Bulman, Barunga, Minyerri, Numbulwar, Borroloola, Ngukurr, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Pepperminarti, Timber Creek, Pigeon Hole. They attended the Barunga Festival, local football matches on Tiwi the Tiwi Islands, and sporting days at Yuendumu; and they arranged for Cathy Freeman and the members of Yothu Yindi to visit and inspire the children in their care. Everywhere they went they were welcomed by community leaders and parents because they looked after their children. In many of the communities they spent most of their modest salary at the art shop while other pieces in their collection were “gifted” as thanks for looking after their children, though they never had enough walls to hang it all on. And so their love of the people and their art became a touchstone of the lives of these two very Scottish transplants to our shores. Now both 73 years of age, they have moved into a small apartment they are selling the art and artefacts collected over a lifetime in the hope that others will love them as much as they have. They cherish the memories of their years in Darwin, and their bond with the ‘kids’, now ‘adults’ extends to their children and grandchildren. – it is a bond that lasts forever! Amongst them are Hermannsburg watercolours, Tiwi and Arnhem Land art and paintings and artefacts from the central Desert, Queensland and Western Australia.

Artists: KITTY NAPANAGKA SIMON AND NEIL ERNEST TOMKINS Curated by: GADIGAL ARTIST KONSTANTINA (KATE CONSTANTINE) 27 JULY – 26 AUGUST 2023 OPENING THURSDAY 27TH JULY 2023 | 6PM 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016 A new era if Cooee Art represents an exciting development for the gallery and for the wider art community in Australia. Although the gallery will remain focused on First Nations art, going forward as Art Leven, the gallery will exhibit non-Indigenous alongside First Nations artists, through specially curated individual projects. The new gallery vision will focus on transparent dialogue, offering an opportunity beyond the ordinary commercial relationship between artist and gallery, fostering an environment of openness and direct exchanges between artists. The collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists offer a chance for new and innovative artistic expressions to emerge, and for meaningful conversations to take place. The program offers an opportunity to build not just a closed commercial relationship between artist and gallery, but an environment of openness and comfort in understanding the commercial gallery system through exchanges with other free-agent artists. country x Country is the first iteration of the new annual program, launching as the inaugural exhibition in the new chapter of the gallery on July 27th 2023. The specific focus of this project and the resulting exhibition was mark-making and painting craft, especially when it comes to landscape painting and ways of seeing country. The workshop was based not around specific imagery, but around approach, how the tangible landscape is portrayed through the artists’ unique brushstrokes. The painting project leading up to this exhibition was graciously hosted by the Warlpiri owners of Warnayaka Arts in Lajamanu over five days of painting at the art centre studio. The ‘workshop’ was not led or guided, open to anyone in the community who wanted to partake. As early as the first day of painting in the centre, the joyful trio of Kitty Napanangka Simon, Annie Napanangka Simon and Biddy Napanangka Timms bestowed Tomkins with his Warlpiri skin name. For the rest of the workshop, the ladies addressed Neil only as Tjapanangka. After first setting up on the ground outside in the all-but-unused men’s painting area, Neil soon found his spot in the studio – crouched, as he often does in his Sydney studio space, on a paint-splattered mat, close by Kitty’s favoured painting table. Within the buzz of Kitty’s return to painting the were many peaceful moments, the soundscape consisting only of the ladies chatting and laughing in Warlpiri, often humming along to their songlines playing through speakers, and the ever active scratching of brush bristles on linen. Some, between sessions, Kitty would turn to watch Tomkins work. She would smile and point to a corner of his painting, recognising the depicted place in or around town. She’d call out his name, Tjapanangka!, and confirm with him, teach him the Warlpiri term, or tell an anecdote about the spot. Each time, his smile beamed with pride at Napanangka Simon’s recognition. Alongside their distinctively bold and unapologetic use of colour, a major shared theme is the artists’ process of layering perception and memory, expressing their view of landscape as an act of recognition and blending. The Country that Kitty paints is a description of the current landscape, yet simultaneously defined by stories of its creation (in her case, stories associated with the important Mina Mina Dreaming). Further, what is really her Country was stolen and essentially destroyed by mining, so that Kitty and her Warlpiri people were forcefully displaced onto foreign Country now shared, with its traditional owners. The same Dreamtime stories, inherited by Napanangka Simon far from their origin, have since become adapted, laying Warlipiri songlines onto twice-foreign soil. This fracture is reflected in Napanangka Simon’s work – sometimes in the paths of dot-work that trail off and eventually disconnect, as though forgetting how a story ends. Other times, you may recognise it in her a powerful instinctive use of negative space, a feature often on the forefront of Tomkins’ compositions as well. In the crafting of his work, Tomkins uses memory in a similar way, folding it into the fabric of his works and creating a truer image of the artist’s perceived reality. A majority of works in this exhibition spawn from photo composites, fractured and instinctively arranged before being sewn together by brushstroke. From the finished paintings in this show, one can almost map the timeline of Neil Tomkins’ process. Only two works are entirely composed of a single view (Emu Rockhole and West Hooker Creek), both of which, aside from minor touches, were painted entirely en plain air at the scene. The final work (Bush Banana there) was completed largely after the return to Sydney. This richly colourful painting features three separate skylines, so spliced with memory that it reads almost as though seen through a kaleidoscope. Kitty Napanangka Simon is a dedicated artist with a distinctive, singular aesthetic. Her paintings – at first denounced by senior men for straying too far from the traditional idiom – have excited discriminating curators and collectors since her first solo exhibition at Cooee Art in 2013, winning admirers both inside and outside her tight knit Warlpiri community. In 2020, Napanangka lost her sight due to cataracts and Leven, through Cooee Art, paid for her surgery. After regaining her sight, Napanangka Simon’s painting practice has dwindled and one goal of the Lajamanu project will be her first major foray back into painting with a renewed confidence in her exceptional talent. Contemporary landscape painter Neil Ernest Tompkins has developed a painting style recognisable for its blending and fragmenting of imagery and perspectives. Tomkins’ process usually begins en plein air, loosely drafted with a focus on composition and framework. Often, the artist refines his imagery by cutting up photographs taken while travelling, arranging them into collages that form a reference for his ensuing paintings. He is regularly exhibited and represented by galleries across Australia.

From: Art Daily 29 June 2023 SYDNEY.- Australia’s oldest Indigenous gallery Cooee Art today announces that it will relaunch as Art Leven, ushering in a new era for the gallery under the stewardship of long-term owner and Director Mirri Leven. Although the gallery will remain focused on First Nations art, in this new chapter as Art Leven, the gallery will exhibit non-Indigenous alongside First Nations artists, through specially curated individual projects. The new gallery vision will focus on transparent dialogue, offering an opportunity beyond the ordinary commercial relationship between artist and gallery, fostering an environment of openness and direct exchanges between artists. Art Leven will work directly with First Nations curators, art centres, and represented artists. Art Leven will unveil its inaugural exhibition in line with this new programming focus on Thursday 27 July 2023 within its bespoke gallery space, located in Gadial Country, Sydney Redfern. Curated by Gadigal artist Kate Constantine (Konstantina), the exhibition features work created in the Northern Territory Warlpiri community of Lajamanu, organically exploring themes around the craft of landscape painting and ways of seeing and translating land and Country.

Inspired | Artists from the Kimberley Region Few areas in Australia, if any, have an artistic history reaching further back than the Western Kimberley. Here, the artistic tradition stems from rock painting, mostly of the deeply important Wandjina Deity, which still forms the basis of contemporary imagery, now painted mostly on bark and canvas. Some Wandjina cave paintings date as far back as 40,000 years. There are few things more deeply rooted in this continent. The artists still use the very marrow of their land - natural earth pigments (ochres) - dug from the soil to relate their Country on canvas. In the East Kimberley however, the artistic practice finds its roots more recently, formed around the founders of the Gija art movement, including Rover Thomas, Paddy Jaminji and Hector Jandany. Queenie McKenzie, under the urging of Rover Thomas, was the first female Kimberley artist to paint and exhibit her own works. Developed most famously by Rover Thomas, the language of landscape is unique to this area, with Country viewed neither from the birds eye perspective prominent in Central and Western Desert art, nor from the standing viewpoint employed by European landscape painters. These paintings can be restrained, using few colours to depict vast swathes of land. Yet artists often populate the landscape, as did Queenie McKenzie and Hector Jandany, both of whom populated their canvases with a mix of traditional Gija and Christian iconography. Many of Rover Thomas and Paddy Jaminji’s figurative works are built around the important Kril Kril ceremony. Many of these works, now housed in major collections, still bear the handprints from their ceremonial use. Alec O’Halloran, through his ‘inquisitiveness that slowly turned into fascination’, went from a self-proclaimed novice to a deeply engaged researcher, collector and author about Aboriginal art. He began studying and collecting art from the Kimberley in the mid 1990s. His fascination with the region led him to travel widely in the West and East Kimberley to visit communities and meet the artists to understand more deeply the imagery and meaning in their beautiful ochre works. His recent authorised biography of Pintupi artist Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, ‘The master from Marnpi’, reveals Namarari’s extraordinary life and art career and is available at Cooee. After decades teaching at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, political scientist Dr. Prof. Patricia Springborg has recently returned home to Australia. Trailing the author by sea was a large container filled with Springborg’s art collection, featuring many of Australia’s biggest names. Curated with care and precision, a prominent component of the art ark was the collection of ochre works from the Kimberley, many of which feature in this exhibition. “It was only in 2005, during a trip to Aboriginal Art Centres in Arnhemland and the Kimberleys, that I began collecting, which quickly became a passion. It was a great privilege for me to be able to hang these beautiful art objects, which are in fact far more than just art objects, and part of this continent’s historical record, on my walls in Berlin for 10 years, where they attracted a lot of interest. I am proud to say that I collected works by some of the founders of the Arnhemland and Kimberly art movements, and that my collection includes the very same artists whose works hang in the Australian indigenous section of the famous Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, which has perhaps the most extensive Aboriginal collection in Europe and has played a major part in the movement’s appreciation overseas.”

PAYMENT OPTIONS EFT – Electronic Funds Transfer – Free of charge Cash and/or cheque – Free of charge Visa, MasterCard OR AMEX– Payment using a Visa, MasterCard or Amex online, via the phone or in person at the gallery incurs a 2% surcharge PayPal – Incurs a 2% surcharge Payment Plans & Lay-bys – Found the work you love but need some time to pay it off? Ask us for lay-by terms Art Money – Provides interest-free loans to buy for Australian citizens SHIPPING & DELIVERY OPTIONS Each artwork is unique and therefore each requires different packing and shipping requirements. Cooee Art organises freight of artworks throughout Australia and worldwide and provides quotes on a case by case basis. Contact the gallery if you would like to get a quote for packing and delivering a particular artwork to your home or work. The majority of paintings available at the gallery are able to be sent rolled or stretched. For example, an average size painting measuring 150 x 120 cm will cost: To send within Australia – Rolled and sent in a tube – average price $120 Stretched and delivered locally in Sydney – average price $150 Stretched and sent to Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra – average price $275 To send overseas – Rolled and sent in a tube – average price $250 Stretched and crated – average price $1,200 For a detailed quote on any artwork simply fill in the inquiry form found next to each artwork with your address and phone number mentioning in the comment section that you would like a delivery quote and one of our staff members will be back to you shortly. STORAGE POLICY Cooee Art is able to store your artwork on site for 60 days of the initial purchase date, unless otherwise discussed with the Gallery Manager. If the artwork is not collected or shipped by then, we will charge a $5 per day per work storage fee. EXCHANGE POLICY We are all human and change our minds from time to time. Cooee Art offers to exchange artworks purchased by its clients for works of the same or lesser value within two weeks of the initial date of purchase provided the original artwork is returned in good condition. Any additional costs associated with the exchange such as framing, freight or delivery are the responsibility of the buyer. RETURNS POLICY We understand that buying a work of art is not something that you do every day. It can be especially difficult for those that buy an artwork without the opportunity to view it in person. Cooee Art offers any client that has not personally viewed the painting before purchase, a full refund if the artwork does not meet their approval upon delivery. THIS OFFER IS MADE UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS: The refund is for the cost of the artwork itself and not for the extra freight and packaging costs associated with the sale. Artwork was not purchased on a Lay-by agreement or through Art Money The buyer must contact the gallery within 48 hours of receiving the artwork to inform the gallery manager of their decision to return the work. The buyer will pay for the cost of the return delivery of the artwork. The buyer agrees to return the artwork within two weeks of its arrival at their home or business address. The refund will be paid in full via EFT only if the artwork is received in the same condition as it left the gallery. LAY-BY TERMS When purchasing an artwork using a Lay-by agreement, the payments made towards the artwork are non-refundable. However, we can offer you the opportunity to transfer the payments and or deposit to a credit note. Giving you the opportunity to find the right painting for you. DEPOSITS Deposits on artworks are non-refundable but we will transfer the amount paid to another artwork or supply you for a credit for the full amount. MISCELLANEOUS This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales. If any provision of this agreement is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of law, such invalidity or unenforceability will not affect the remainder of the agreement, which will continue in full force and effect. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. DISCLAIMER All information on this website has been compiled from material currently available in the public domain. Its re-presentation is available without charge to subscribers in a manner consistent with the fair dealing provisions of the copyright act. Cooee Art P/L has attempted to make contact with the author and or creator of all the images used on the website. If the author and or creator of an image has been wrongly attributed, Cooee Art P/L is happy to make any necessary changes but will not be made liable to any copyright infringements.

WHY BUY FROM COOEE ART? OUR COMMITMENT Cooee Art cares about artists and supporting their work and livelihood. Our gallery team has travelled regularly to remote areas of Australia since 1981 to meet with artists on country to establish the exhibitions that we program and the works that we sell. How a person or business works with Indigenous artists and their cultural material is a reflection of their knowledge, intellect and core values. Indigenous people may be the inheritors of the oldest continuous living culture in the world but they are amongst the most disadvantaged in Australia. Those who do business with them, therefore, have a responsibility to treat them with respect and, in the case of important elders, reverence. Cooee Art has worked with Aboriginal artists for over 40 years showing the work of over 150 individual artists. It was a foundation member of the Australian Aboriginal Art Association and the Indigenous Art Code. Cooee Art is committed to the following core principles: To conduct its affairs in an exemplary manner with regard to the Indigenous arts industry and the Indigenous artists it represents Act fairly, honestly and professionally in dealings with artists, clients, other dealers and all industry organisations Provide proper disclosure of information relating to the authorship and provenance of any work exhibited and/or sold Supply Authenticity Certificates for all artworks that are received directly from artists and original source certificates for all works that it receives directly from community art centres Respect Indigenous cultural practices and artists’ rights Strive for excellence in product presentation and service Take proper care of artworks in its possession Maintain appropriate records including the terms of agreements with artists Just as those who deal in Aboriginal art have an obligation to be transparent and act fairly toward artists and their communities, they must also ensure that they treat their clients with equal respect and fairness. As we evolve in the secondary market we will continue our work with modern and contemporary artists to form ongoing trusted relationships and these principles will be applied. ARTWORK PROVENANCE Since it was first established in 1981 Cooee Art has supported community-based art centres. It also supports independent dealers and artist’s agents and galleries that work directly with artists providing they are members of the Aboriginal Art Association of Australia and/or the Indigenous Art Code. Cooee Art held the first exhibition and art centre launch in Australia for Tiwi Design, Bathurst Island, in 1981, and held exhibitions for the newly established Maningrida and Ramingining communities in Arnhem Land as well as undertaking the first of many consultancies for Indigenous arts organisations over the following 5 years. From writing the marketing plan and developing product for Bima Wear, Bathurst Island, N.T. to the launch of the fledgling Balgo Hills community art centre in the late 1980s, Cooee Art went on to consult with remote community councils in the Tanami Desert and the Torres Strait Islands as they worked toward the establishment of community art organisations. During the early 2000s, it became the first to promote the work of Western Pitjantjatjara artists through staging exhibitions by the Spinifex People of Western Australia. CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY Cooee Art issues Certificates of Authenticity for every artwork it offers for sale. It provides 100% safe provenance and a money-back guarantee of authenticity. Cooee Art’s certificates include the vital statistics and specifications of the artwork and any cultural information that has been sourced with the artwork and/or found through our extensive research library and resources. These may include images of the artists and working photographs (if available) as well as any original source documentation that is available. Cooee Art’s certification is accepted by the auction industry as a guarantee of ‘preferred’ provenance and authenticity due to the longevity of the business and its reputation in the field.