A still from Storm Boy. Courtesy of Daro.

If you fancy a break from the grey London weather, visit the October Gallery this weekend for a last chance to be transported to the vibrant desert landscape of central Australia.

'Memory as Landscape' runs until January 28 2006 and shows six contemporary Aborignal artists from Utopia, a remote community in the heart of Australia's Nothern territory.

Utopia has developed a reputation for producing great artists, and the work has both been a way of preserving Aboriginal history, and an economic lifeline.

The paintings by Gloria and Kathleen Petyarr, Poly, Kathleen and Angeline Ngal and Greenie Purvis Petyarr positively dazzle with colour, movement and light.

Each one resonates the painters relationship to the land, their 'country'. Though they should be appreciated for their sheer craft they tell another story, one of empathy, connection and responsiblity to place.

Geoff Bardon was a white artist and teacher who assisted communities in the early Western Desert painting movement over 30 years ago in spite of strong resistance from the white establishment.

A still from Storm Boy. Courtesy of Daro.

He said, "(indigenous painting) has helped to preserve traditional cultural aspirations and protect tribal lands....revive inherited concepts of social order. It continues to be a symbol of hope for greater understanding between two cultures."

This theme of sharing knowledge and understanding is continued with the one-off showing of the film Storm Boy on Saturday 28th at 3pm. The 1977 story of a boy who lives in a remote part of Southern Australia is a children's film that also achieved a large adult following when first released.

The October Gallery will be running further Aboriginal exhibitions later in the year: one in April will look at the work of the Lockhart River Art Gang from Queensland, followed in the autumn by work from Brisbane urban artists.