Helen McCarthy

DOB: 1972

Born: Tenant Creek, NT

LANGUAGE GROUP: Batjamal

COMMUNITY: Bulgul, NT

Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty was born at Tennant Creek in 1972. After spending most of her childhood at Nauiyu Nambiyu Community (Daly River), Helen completed her education at Mount St Bernard College at Herberton on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland.

Helen studied teaching, initially at Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Education in the N.T. and completing her degree at Deakin University in 1994. It was during this time at university that Helen’s art career started to take shape. In 1993, she was already involved in her first art festival. Her painting continued to develop after moving into teaching full time. For 10 years she successfully combined a job as a teacher in remote communities with her painting activities. Around 2003, Helen devoted herself to painting full time, gradually honing her skills and developing her own unique approach to the dreamings she portrays.

In 2006, Helen had her first solo exhibition in Sydney and further solo and group exhibitions quickly followed in Melbourne and Singapore. In August 2007, Helen was honoured to receive the People’s Choice Award at the 24th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award for her painting Tyemeny Liman’s Wutinggi (Grandpa Harry’s Canoe). She says of her grandfather “In his day he was the best canoe maker in his country. It’s a sad story and a good story at the same time. It’s the last canoe that he ever made.” Helen was also a finalist at the 2008 Telstra Awards.

In 2011, Helen was commissioned to paint the artwork used as the stage backdrop for the Oprah Winfrey show that was filmed in Australia.

After a creative lull, in 2015 Helen returned to her childhood home, Daly River. That return to her roots and to country has been the catalyst for an immense surge of creative output, as witnessed in her two solo exhibitions at Kate Owen Gallery in 2016.

Helen has a relentless passion to learn all she can about culture and country from her elders, as well as the ability to effectively communicate through her art using an array of styles, intricate dotting and delicate brushwork techniques, abstract imagery, bold colour use and intuitive interplays with space and form. Her art can be multi-layered, complex and colourful, or it can be restrained, solemn and occasionally ominous.

Helen explains that she finds inspiration all around her; in her deep connection to country, in the traditional practices associated with a life living bush and in her incredible family stories. Helen’s connection to country and culture combined with her non-indigenous education are the foundations she uses to express her ideas and experiences in her own unique manner. This capacity to give contemporary interpretations to her ancient Dreaming stories makes her a distinct voice in the contemporary Indigenous art scene today.

Collections
The Henderson Family Collection, Sydney

Awards and Recognition
2019 Calleen Art Award, Cowra – Finalist
2017 Mosman Art Prize, Sydney, Margaret Olley Art Award Winner
2017 Paddington Art Prize, Finalist and Highly Commended
2017 Georges River Art Prize – Finalist
2008 25th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist
2007 24th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist and People’s Choice Award Winner
History

Solo Exhibitions
2019 Helen McCarthy, Harvey Galleries, Sydney
2016 New Inspiration, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Back from Bulgul and Artist in Residence, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2011 Stories of Bulgul, Wentworth Galleries, Sydney
2010 Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2009 Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty, Agathon Galleries, Melbourne
2007 Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty, Agathon Galleries, Sydney
2006 Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty, Agathon Galleries, Sydney

Group Exhibitions
2019 defining tradition | black + white, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 The Colourists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 Women in Colour | International Womens Day, Cooee Gallery, Sydney
2019 Landscape Colours, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2018 The Colours of Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2017 Gems from the Stockroom, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Big, bold, beautiful, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Black & White, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Vast Interiors, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Spoilt for Choice; a Director’s Choice Exhibition, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Purple Rain, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2015 Divine Detail, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2014 From the Vaults, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2014 Vast Interiors, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2014 Summer Sensations, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2011 Out Bulgul Way, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2010 ART IN THE CITY: Gems from the Desert, Aurora Place, Sydney
2010 Winter Show, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2010 Gallery Selection, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2009 Colours of the Desert, Ochre Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Australia Now, COMODAA, London
2009 Desert Stories, Ochre Gallery, Melbourne
2008 True Colours, Ladner and Fell, Melbourne
2008 Colour, United Galleries, Sydney
2006 Agathon Gallery, Singapore