A community of traditional artists has travelled from the red sands of the Western Desert to the white-walled rooms of the University of Wollongong for a five-day residency.
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The artists are from Nyirripi, a small Warlpiri community about 500 kilometres west of Alice Springs known for its vibrant, modern Aboriginal dot paintings.
About 60 of Nyirripi's 200 residents are artists, including Kathleen Gibson, one of six now visiting Wollongong.
"I watched my dad do it and my mum," Ms Gibson, 29, said. "We get [the paintings] from our minds. You don't get it from someone else. It means keeping culture inside me."
Wollongong-based not-for-profit group the Indigo Foundation raised funds to bring the artists to the Illawarra.
Foundation chair Sally Stevenson, who met the people of Nyirripi about 20 years ago when working in the community, said the exchange was an opportunity for a rare insight.
The artists produce work for the Warlukulangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation.
Their workshops back in Nyirripi can be frenetic affairs.
"They're working all morning, all evening. It's quite intense," Ms Stevenson said. "It's a really fundamental part of who they are."
A collection of paintings by artists from Nyirripi is on exhibition in the Creative Arts Building gallery during the residency, until June 21.
The artists - including Gayle Gibson, Teddy Gibson, Neville Poulson, Freda Jurrah and Alice Michaels - will be working with children from Big Fat Smile and with the Aboriginal art-making community from Boolarng Nangamai in Gerringong.
Visitors are welcome to see the artists during the week. Phone 4221 3996 to check if they are on campus.
