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Status: Stock

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Yarkaalpa

Poster from the 2014 MCA exhibition ‘Martu Art from the Far Western Desert’, featuring a detailed section from the collaborative Martumili Artists painting, ‘Ýarkaalpa Hunting Ground’.

‘Ýarkaalpa Hunting Ground’ is a collaborative work painted by Martumili Artists Kumpaya Girgiba, Yikartu Bumba, Ngamaru Bidu, Nancy Taylor Karnu, Janice Nixon Yuwali, Reena Rogers, Thelma Judson and Nola Taylor.This painting portrays physical elements of Martu Country, such as the dominant tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and water sources. Rock holes, waterholes, soaks and springs were all extremely important sites for Martu people during the pujiman (nomadic bush) era, with many important jukurrpa (dreamtime stories) chronicling the creation of these landmarks. In the past the Martu lived nomadically, moving from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of country creating a larger diversity of plant and animal life.