The Long Road to Revealed

Imagine seeing the ocean for the first time. Standing on a beach in Fremantle with fish and salty chips in your hands and then dipping your toes into the water.

Now add a few more firsts. Like trying sushi with chopsticks. Walking into bustling Perth traffic. And seeing your own painting hanging on a gallery wall at PICA.

Well, last month, those firsts belonged to Ngaanyatjarra artists Elfreda Ward and Roelene West, who were supported by Regional Arts WA to travel to Perth for Revealed.

With Mirlirrtjarra Arts Centre Manager, Francesca Rossetti behind the wheel, the three women drove from Warburton to PICA – to attend the annual showcase of contemporary Aboriginal art – where Elfreda’s work had been selected for exhibition.

16 Hours to Perth

The drive itself was no small undertaking. Warburton to Perth is about 16 hours, with at least five of them on dirt road. For Elfreda and Roelene, the scale of the highway, the traffic, and the occasional rolled truck on the shoulder was a little overwhelming, so Francesca was nominated as ‘designated driver’.

Along the way the landscape shifted. There was dry spinifex, mulga and mallee scrub. Ghost gums emerged standing pale against the sky. Some creeks were full after heavy rains. But mostly there was a lot of red dust and more red dust, with the road running in a ruler-straight line for hours.

There were also coffee stops, snacks, and at the end of that first heroic day, arriving at their first overnight stop in Kalgoorlie, a moment of absolute clarity from the back seat when Francesca asked what the artists wanted for dinner.

“KFC! KFC!” They chanted.

In Warburton, your options are admirable but limited with just a roadhouse and a general store, so the idea that nine hours down the road there is a brightly-lit temple devoted entirely to fried chicken seemed like a ‘small-city miracle’ appearing before them.

By the time they got to Perth on day two, it was another level of excitement. The women set up at a homestead close to PICA, navigated traffic lights, and took in the big city.

“She was just amazed,” Francesca says of Roelene who was taking in Perth city for the first time (her only previous trip was a hospital visit). “It was like having a kid with you and noticing everything around them.”

Elfreda remembers the food with particular fondness. There was Chinese dumplings, the fish and chips at Fremantle, sushi eaten with chopsticks, and of course, more fried chicken.

It was at Revealed though, where the the trip found its centre and the women were visibly moved according to Francesca. When Elfreda saw her painting hanging on the wall at PICA, among works from other artists from other communities, Francesca says it was the first time Elfreda had seen her own work presented in that way.

“She could understand that what they do at the Arts Centre every day is important,” Francesca says. “Maybe if you spend all your time in community just painting, and you don’t know what happens to your paintings you don’t really see the outcome. When I say I’m sending paintings away, they may not realise what that means. But when they see the painting on the wall in a gallery, with a lot of other paintings from other communities, it’s very moving for them. They can see that what they do has a meaning.”

Elfreda’s exhibited work told the Seven Sisters story. In her own telling, a man tries to lure the sisters with meat because he wants to marry one of them. The eldest sister leads the others away however the man follows, injured but persistent. The story moves through themes of hunger, teasing, bush foods and Country.

Born in Patjarr, a small community in the Gibson Desert, then settling in Warburton as a schoolgirl, Elfeda grew up around artists and learned to paint by watching her family. Her uncle was a well-known painter, Helicopter, and she remembers watching him paint faces and place dots around them. She also watched her grandmothers and other older women painting the journeys people made across Country.

Her work carries that inheritance, but she is clear that she has her own way of painting.

“I got my own style,” she says.

Francesca describes Elfreda’s work as a mix of traditional dot painting and her own visual language. While the Seven Sisters is one of her central subjects, Elfreda also paints landscapes, trees, bush flowers, kangaroos and plants she sees while travelling. One painting she is currently working on is inspired by a honey tree, its colours glowing yellow, orange and green.

At Revealed, Elfreda was able not only to see her own painting exhibited, but to talk with other artists, walk among the stalls and understand how audiences, buyers and other artists responded to the work. She was nervous at first but she spoke with people about her painting and some were surprised by her knowledge.

“They was [sic], ‘Well, you’re too young to know about the painting,’” she says. “And I said, ‘Yeah, well, I just learned through my families.”

Elfreda’s painting sold, and the sale was proof that her work could stand on a major gallery wall and be bought. These sales bring income to the artists, and they validate the story and skill in the work. It gave Elfreda real confidence and financial momentum to keep painting and supporting her family.

For Francesca, moments like that are why the trip mattered.

“Elfreda was curious to speak with the other artists, to know where they are from” Francesca says. “And during the market day, she was going around to have a look at all the stalls so she could have more inspiration for her own artwork.”

For Roelene, the trip allowed her to understand the value of the paintings and ceramics she makes back home, and to see that her work could travel beyond community without losing its story.

The Arts Centre in Warburton

When Francesca arrived in Warburton at the end of 2024, there was no formal art centre in place. The earlier Warburton project had closed in 2020, and while some art activity continued through a community women’s shed, Francesca felt there was no clear structure or purpose supporting long-term artist development, ethical sales or professional opportunities. So she began building the new centre from scratch.

In February 2025, Mirlirrtjarra Arts Centre officially opened, and by September it had become an Aboriginal corporation. The process involved research, governance work, electing three art directors, and building the foundations of an ethical arts organisation.

The centre now supports artists through painting, ceramics, workshops, ethical sales, artist development and participation in major arts events. Some days, Francesca says, there are ten artists working in the space. Other days are quieter. There is room to paint, a kitchen, and a sense of purpose the community had been asking for.

Elfreda says without it, things would be boring. “There’s a little bit of kitchen for us to come have a cup of tea,” she says. “And it’s got a big space here.”

For many in the Warburton community, it is also a safe and cool place to gather, to earn income, a place to keep busy, and where different generations of artists can begin to imagine their work travelling further afield.

“I think the art centre is a really good space for the community,” Francesca says. “People can be there during the day. They can have something to do, and they can have money from that. They can support the family. It was something they really wanted.”

For Elfreda, making art is always on the agenda. She is planning a large collaborative work with other women, big enough for four or five people to sit around and paint together. It will include landscape, rockholes and places across Country, and she hopes it can be shown to children.

“The ladies are gonna join with us,” she says. “It’s gonna be big thing for us.”

Reflections

The road back to Warburton from Perth was the same one they had taken in. Another two days of driving and the long ‘ruler-straight’ stretch of red dirt with a few coffee stops thrown in, then the return to roadhouse food.

But the return trip carried different cargo. Elfreda had seen her Seven Sisters painting hanging on a gallery wall and then sold the piece. Roelene had seen the ocean for the very first time. Both artists had walked through Perth and met people from other regions, and seen how the work of Mirlirrtjarra Arts can form part of a living community of artists and stories.

There are some beautiful takeaways from sending artists from communities to Perth to witness these exhibitions. Trips like this provide visibility, professional development, and create career pathways for regional artists. Although if you ask Elfreda, her main takeaway appears to be simpler.

“I wanna go again,” she says.

“And try some more seafood.”

Photos courtesy of Francesca Rossetti, Mirlirrtjarra Arts Centre.

Mirlirrtjarra Arts Aboriginal Corporation received a Regional Arts Fund Quick Response Grant from Regional Arts WA.

The Regional Arts Fund is an Australian Government Program that supports sustainable cultural development in regional and remote communities in Australia.

The Regional Arts Fund is designed to benefit regional and remote arts practitioners, arts workers, audiences and communities.

The program is managed nationally by Regional Arts Australia and is delivered in all states and the Northern Territory by Regional Program Administrators. Regional Arts WA manages the program for Western Australia.