2022

Discover Parrtjima 2022 and its Sky Country theme, with King Stingray, Indigenous art, workshops and a Warwick Thornton film retrospective.

Parrtjima looked to the skies in 2022. Running from 8 to 17 April at Alice Springs Desert Park and Araluen Arts Centre, Sky Country explored relationships between people and the environment through art, performance and conversations, with more than 23,000 attendances across the ten nights.

The theme invited audiences to consider the knowledge carried in the sky, wind and seasons, including the constellations that have guided Arrernte people across their homelands. Large light installations and the MacDonnell Ranges show created the setting for a programme that linked these ideas with contemporary artistic expression.

King Stingray opened the music programme, with Dan Sultan and BARKAA among the other performers across the festival. Araluen hosted a retrospective of work by director and cinematographer Warwick Thornton, giving visitors an opportunity to explore Indigenous storytelling through film as well as light.

Workshops included screen printing with House of Darwin, pottery with the Hermannsburg Potters and seed jewellery making with Ikuntji Artists. Narelda Jacobs and Associate Professor Bradley Moggridge were among the speakers. Additional experiences included art tours and bushfood activities, allowing visitors to spend more time with the people and places behind the festival.