Karijini Experience returns to Pilbara with hope to highlight mining region's creative side

Kalamina Gorge provides a natural runway for a festival fashion show. (ABC Pilbara: Louise Miolin )

Deep in the heart of the Pilbara desert, the pristine gorges and towering red rocks of Karijini National Park are a natural oasis in an otherwise harsh outback landscape.

For one week in April, almost 2,000 locals and tourists flock to the spot to celebrate not just nature, but culture.

The Karijini Experience was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.

But it was back in full swing in 2021, shining a spotlight on WA artists and local Indigenous art and stories.

Karijini, an oasis in the Pilbara desert, is a stunning backdrop for the festival. (ABC Pilbara: Louise Miolin)

Event manager Sonia Powell said the festival celebrated art and culture in a myriad of ways — from Aboriginal bush medicine workshops and cultural tours to live music, dance, and fashion.

"We're providing a stage for the up-and-coming younger generations," she said.

Ms Powell said border restrictions were a blessing in disguise because they encouraged people to embrace WA creatives.

Event manager Sonia Powell says the festival's "hardline on WA performers really saved us". (ABC Pilbara: Louise Miolin)

"We've got them down from Broome and up from as far south as Albany."

Maitland Parker (centre), chairman of the Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, leads a cultural tour with park rangers.  (ABC Pilbara: Louise Miolin )

Sharing Indigenous stories with the world

When local Banjima woman Kay White first started painting, she never imagined she would see her artwork translated into high fashion, let alone paraded deep in Kalamina Gorge, on her family's country.

"It's brilliant … it makes my heart swell," she said.

Ms White said the Karijini Experience brought Aboriginal stories to life, which she said was important for healing intergenerational trauma.

"It brings a close connection to traditional Banjima people," she said.

Festival-goers camp at Karijini for the week. (ABC Pilbara: Louise Miolin)

Katie Evans is the head of Junction Co, a Pilbara based not-for-profit organisation that aims to support regional arts.

Famous for FIFO, iron ore, and Red Dog, Ms Evans said it was easy for people to write off the Pilbara as completely isolated from art scenes enjoyed by the bigger cities.

She said the Karijini experience upended those expectations.

"You think of places like Denmark, and people say, 'Oh, the creative place,'" Ms Evans said.

Ms Evans said Karijini's status as a natural wonder provided the perfect backdrop for elevating Pilbara artists.

"Internationally, I think people recognise places like Karijini, and then they listen to stories we're producing here," she said.