Adnyamathanha artist Kristian Coulthard's work is being displayed alongside his grandparents and great-grandparents for the first time, in an exhibition showcasing the enduring relationship between the Adnyamathanha people and the Flinders Ranges region.

In the school holidays just gone, Kristian Coulthard, Adnyamathanha man, artist, and cultural custodian, watched his 12-year-old granddaughter carve a couple of snake sculptures at the ancestral home of his people in the Flinders Ranges.

Her efforts exemplify the main reason Kristian continues to carve cultural artefacts like boomerangs, or wadnas.

“I believe it’s just a way of keeping our craft and that skill alive,” Kristian says.

“It’s passing on those stories. So I’m using modern tools, but the same techniques used.

“So it’s that connection and passing on that skill to my son, my granddaughter, and keeping that history alive.”

Like his granddaughter, Kristian learned his craft from his grandfather, Clem Coulthard. Kristian was essentially Clem’s apprentice.

“Back then it was the ‘understudy’,” Kristian says.

“That’s what old Pop used to call us.”

Kristian started with tasks like sanding and oiling, before graduating to filing and rasping. It was a while before Clem would teach Kristian axe work and then, at last, how to apply the finishing touches: burning with hot wires and irons, and incise work.

It wouldn’t be until much later in Kristian’s life, however, that the importance of what Clem was teaching him would hit home.

All kinds of art can be found at Kristian and Gabrielle’s gallery shed in Wadna. This picture: supplied

Around 2012, after spending time working and away from his craft, Kristian visited the Wilpena Pound Resort.

“I walked in there and I seen all the commercial, Indonesian boomerangs and didgeridoos made from bamboo that were made in China,” Kristian says.

“And then I said to my wife, ‘Gabby, I think I’m going to get stuck back into it and get back into my craft and do the old stuff again’. She said, ‘Oh, that would be good,’ because even when we were young, carving supplemented our income like it did for Pop’s and great grandad’s and Uncle Jeff’s and Uncle Clarry.”

The experience left Kristian feeling flat, but not for long.

“I felt disappointed actually to see the fake stuff was at home, when this country is steeped in a history of carving and is surrounded by beautiful natural products that we utilised for thousands of years, and we made beautiful artefacts out of it.

“So I got back into it and I spoke to the [general manager] there and I was supplying beautiful mulga boomerangs and some paintings.”

Wadna doesn’t just display and sell art, but is Kristian’s base of operations for his tourism and cultural awareness services. This picture: supplied

From there, Kristian travelled around selling his art, before branching out into tourism and cultural awareness training. Eventually, Kristian and his wife Gabrielle would establish their business Wadna, which operates from their property in Blinman in the Flinders Ranges.

“We had an opening in September 2020,” Kristian says, “and we haven’t looked back since then. We had a home for our art as well, and then it’s just gone from strength to strength.”

“It’s a base for my tourism operations, it’s a base for my cultural teaching to schools and universities, and now we’re an outlet for about 70 different artists from here stretching right through down to Port Augusta to Adelaide, Quorn, up to Coober Pedy, out to the APY lands, and even around Alice.”

Wadna also gave Kristian a platform to display and sell his art. Now, for the first time, Kristian’s craftsmanship is being exhibited outside of Blinman in a new exhibition.

The exhibition, entitled Mulka Yata: The Knowledge of Place, is being held at the Samstag Museum of Art, with the South Australian Museum. The exhibition features art from and inspired by the Flinders Ranges.

The connection between the Adnyamathanha people and the Flinders Ranges region is integral to the exhibition, a relationship that has continued through the generations of Adnyamathanha artists and craftspeople, dating back to Ted Coulthard and Winnie Ryan, Kristian’s great grandparents, and his grandfather Clem, and enduring through him.

Curators Jared Thomas and Erica Green are exhibiting pieces from each generation, including walking sticks carved by Ted and Winnie, miniature sets of boomerangs and spears crafted by Ted, Clem, and Kristian, and Kristian’s akurra or serpent sculptures.

Kristian Coulthard (Adnyamathanha) — Akurra Ngarri Mudlanha (curved female serpent, with feathers), Akurra Miru (curved male serpent), installation view, Samstag Museum of Art  This picture: supplied

Not only is Kristian’s art presented alongside that of his relatives, but also non-indigenous artists who share a connection to the Flinders Ranges, another first for him.

“It was a real unique collaboration actually,” Kristian says. “But the stuff that I was excited about and I’m really passionate about is getting Clem, my grandfather, and Ted and Winnie, my great grandparents, pieces on the wall there in a space where it gives them recognition that they’ve never really received before.”

“I’ve got plenty of time to ring my own bell,” Kristian says. “They’re not here. So I just want to be their voice.”

Mulka Yata opened in June and will run through to the 20^th of September. Find more information on the exhibition here.