SHOP Showcase: Martiniello + Tjanpi

Focus on First Nation's People.

Jenni Kemarre Martiniello

Jenni is an award winning visual artist and writer of Aboriginal (Arrernte), Chinese and Anglo-Celtic descent who has been recognised for her community and individual work over her career. She graduated from the then Canberra School of Arts, now ANU School of Art and Design, in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts (Visual), majoring in Sculpture. Since university, Jenni has worked in mediums such as print making, photography, textiles, mixed media and glass. As a writer, Jenni has published six anthologies and a collection of poetry, with her writing being translated into Arabic, Spanish and Polish. In 1999 Jenni founded the ACT Indigenous Writers Group and remained the project coordinator until 2013. Jenni also received an ACT Creative Arts Fellow for Literature in 2003.

In 2011 Jenni was recognised for her contribution to the community on an honour roll of 100 inspirational local ACT women to mark the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. In 2013, Jenni received the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for her piece, Golden Brown Reeds Fish Trap. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Canberra Museum and Art Gallery, Corning Museum of Glass USA, and the British Museum, UK. Jenni is represented by Sabbia Gallery in Sydney and Paul Johnstone Gallery in Darwin.

Tjanpi Desert Weavers

Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yakunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council, working with women in the remote Central and Western desert regions who earn an income from contemporary fibre art. Tjanpi (meaning grass in Pitjantjatjara language) represents over 400 Anangu/Yarnangu women artists from 26 remote communities on the NPY lands.

Tjanpi artists use native grasses to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, weaving beautiful baskets and sculptures and displaying endless creativity and inventiveness. Originally developing from the traditional practice of making manguri rings, working with fibre in this way has become a fundamental part of Central and Western desert culture.

Tjanpi embodies the energies and rhythms of Country, culture and community. The shared stories, skills and experiences of this wide-reaching network of mothers, daughters, aunties, sisters and grandmothers form the bloodline of the desert weaving phenomenon and have fuelled Tjanpi’s rich history of collaborative practice.

Tjanpi has a public gallery in Alice Springs showcasing baskets, sculptures, jewellery, books, merchandise and more, while Tjanpi artworks are also found at stockists around the country. Tjanpi regularly exhibits work in national galleries, facilitates commissions for public institutions, and holds public weaving workshops.

Follow this link to view the products available from Jenni Kemarre Martiniello + Tjanpi Desert Weavers. Or come in store to view the products in person on display in our foyer showcases.