'The dances they will be doing as small children today are the ones that they will carry with them and continue to dance throughout their lives. These are the inma that our grandfathers and grandmothers entrusted to us to hold and pass on. We hold this inma in our minds and in our spirit, so that we can sing, we can dance, we can give them to the children of the future. So it is for our children that we are most excited. We are going to be dancing for them, for the children' - Rene Kulitja (Aboriginal Australian artist, Director of Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Womens' Council, senior community representative and cultural custodian)
On 25 October 2019, Uluru - a place of great spiritual significance to its Traditional Owners, the Aboriginal Anangu people of Australia's Western Desert region - was officially closed permanently as a tourist climb. This historical event followed decades of work by many of the Traditional Owners to establish respect for Uluru and share an understanding of Tjukurpa, the ancient laws that have been learned over many generations through inma - traditional song and dance.
During the week of the climb’s closure, as crowds of tourists queued to conquer Uluru’s summit, hundreds of Anangu from communities across Central Australia reunited at the closed community of Mutitjulu at the eastern end of Uluru. Inma documents three days of ceremony following the closure, coinciding with the anniversary of the handback of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta lands to the Anangu in 1985.
Focusing in particular on female performers, the series is a testament to the cultural leadership of senior Anangu women and the legacy they strive to pass on to younger generations.
This project has been made possible by the invitation and support of the Anangu owned and operated Aboriginal arts collective, Maruku Arts.
The first image on this page, Ruby James - Uluru Inma (2019), was selected as a finalist in the 2021 National Photographic Portrait Prize, exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, until January 2022, and subsequently exhibited around Australia at the following galleries:
Intersection Gallery, Burnie, Tasmania, 3 March 2022 – 27 March 2022
Redland Gallery, Cleveland, Queensland, 13 May 2022 – 19 June 2022
Goldfields Art Centre, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 1 July – 22 August 2022
Bay Discovery Centre, Glenelg, South Australia, 20 October – 12 December 2022