Tennant Creek Brio

The Tennant Creek Brio is a dynamic collective of Aboriginal artists based in Tennant Creek whose work has become some of the most distinctive and experimental to emerge from Central Australia in recent years.

The group began in 2016 as an art therapy and outreach initiative established by Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation, bringing together a group of Aboriginal men from across the Tennant Creek community. The participants — a mix of cultural leaders, artists and men from the town camps — began meeting regularly to paint, share stories and explore creative expression. Over time, the group evolved into a powerful collaborative collective known as the Tennant Creek Brio.

Working across painting, sculpture, installation, video and performance, the Brio have developed a highly original visual language. Their work draws on imagery and traditions from Wirnkarra (Dreaming) stories, Biblical narratives and mythic iconography from cultures around the world. Through large-scale action painting and experimental multimedia works — often created on found industrial materials such as mining maps, car parts, televisions and oil drums — the artists create bold and energetic compositions that reflect both collective collaboration and individual expression.

Many Brio works explore the psychological, historical and contemporary forces that shape the lives and identities of Aboriginal men living in Tennant Creek. Other works unfold as rich narrative worlds — painterly explorations of creation, spirituality, struggle and catharsis. The resulting artworks are raw, expressive and deeply layered, combining humour, symbolism and cultural knowledge with a fearless experimental spirit.

Since emerging in 2016, the Tennant Creek Brio have developed a strong national profile, exhibiting widely across Australia. Their work featured in the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020) at Cockatoo Island and Artspace, marking an important moment in the collective’s early development.

In the years since, the Brio have continued to present ambitious exhibitions across major galleries and institutions, including:

  • The Myth Makers, Chapman & Bailey, Melbourne (2022)

  • Shock & Ore, Charles Darwin University Art Gallery, Darwin (2023)

  • Control Point, Delmar Gallery, Sydney (2023)

  • Remember Now Old Man Nomad, cbOne Gallery, Melbourne (2023)

  • Radioactive Anomalies, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne (2023)

  • Papulu-ku Nyinjjiki (Seeing Houses), OFFICE, Melbourne (2023)

  • Cross Section, Cassandra Bird Gallery, Sydney (2024)

  • Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis, a major survey exhibition at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne (2024)

  • A Gutful of Gold, Cassandra Bird Gallery, Sydney (2025)

Through these exhibitions the collective has established itself as an important voice in contemporary Australian art, combining First Nations cultural knowledge with global visual influences and the industrial landscape of Tennant Creek.

Today the Tennant Creek Brio continues to push artistic boundaries while remaining grounded in the lived experiences, cultural knowledge and creative resilience of the Barkly region. Their work stands as a powerful expression of collaboration, experimentation and cultural strength.

Fabian is the most well known of the Nyinkka men’s art collective - The Tennant Creek Brio. Fabian’s artistic output is prolific, highly imaginative and powerful. His graphic line work has a residual immediacy and conjures a concoction of mythological figures and motifs referencing various characters from the Old Testament, the Dreaming, Greek mythology, mythological beings and beasts. The works emanate a palpable raw energy and at their best contain the prophetic resonance of oracles 

Fabian Brown

Marcus is the youngest member of the Tennant Creek Men’s Painting group. He often works with oil on linen, sometimes on boards, with large abstract grids. His contemporary style is powerful and minimalist which expresses his mystical and other worldly personality. Marcus’ work is intriguing in how he intuitively alludes to other dimensions within the work. His structures and portals continue beyond the two dimensional support.

Marcus Camphoo

Jimmy is on the Nyinkka Nyunyu Steering Committee and is a skilled artisan working with wood. With Joseph, the two are the only men of their generation to hold these skills strong. He produces a range of traditional artefacts including spears, clapsticks, digging sticks, hunting boomerangs, and coolamons. He began carving as a young man taught by his uncles and he is now passing on the skill to the younger generation. As one of the best dances in our community, he helps coordinates and organises the Pujalli performances (corroborees) held at Nyinkka Nyunyu. 

Jimmy Japarula Frank

Lindsay Nelson became interested in art at an early age through his elders. His father was a well-respected ceremonial man. Having previously worked in the community development employment program at Ali Curung (170km south of Tennant Creek), Nelson is now a full-time artist who works mostly as a painter. His paintings typically utilise a powerful and minimal symbolic language referring to traditional ceremonial motifs and contemporary life.

Lindsay Nelson

Clifford belongs to the Kayetetye language group, his mother’s country is Karku Karlu (Devil’s Marbles) and his father’s country is Jarrah Jarrah. Clifford’s interest in art began as a boy at school doing chalk drawings on small blackboards. Clifford is a keen worker and likes to paint to keep his mind off his problems and assist him to steer away from alcohol. Painting is also a way for him to connect with country and remember his ancestors. Clifford preferred medium is enamel on board, his work is large and bold depicting many aspects of country, mainly his mother’s country. 

Clifford Thompson

Joseph Williams is a master carver who has a long experience of traditional and modern carving and sculpture in Tennant Creek. He started to practice carving with his grand father (Apurtu) when he was a teenager. He reinvents the traditional objects such as boomerang (Kayin), clapping sticks or coolamon (Purnu) using hard and softwood. He has recently been experimenting with installation and video work, along with being a member of the Tennant Creek Brio, a collective of artists who have been exhibiting together since 2016. His work is in numerous private collections. 

Joseph Jungarayi Williams

As a painter Rupert first cut his teeth as a teenage graffiti artist in Melbourne. After a career in AFL football he embarked on a full-time artistic practice which has involved painting and to a lesser extent installation and sculpture. He continually pushes his practice in terms of his materials, in his approach to abstraction and figuration, and in its collaborative and relational dimensions. He has collaborated with Central Desert artist Lionel Possum, Trevor Jenkins, Balinese artists as part of an artists’ camp exchange, and members of the public for large-scale works on reclaimed blackboards. He has held solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Alice Springs, Darwin and Paris including a survey exhibition at Deakin University Art Gallery. He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions. Betheras acts as a facilitator and co-artist in the Brio collective.

Rupert Betheras - Facilitator