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Untitled

“Martu people know how to find water in the desert, they know the Country looks different where there is water under the ground.”

– Corban Clause Williams

Depicted in this work are sources of kapi (water) within the artists’ ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, knowledge of water sources was critical for survival, and today Martu Country is still defined in terms of the location and type of water. Each of the hundreds of claypans, rockholes, waterholes, soaks and springs found in the Martu desert homelands is known through real life experience and the recounting of Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives by name, location, quality and seasonal availability. This encyclopedic knowledge extends even to the nature and movement of arterial waterways, and sustained Martu as they travelled across their Country, hunting and gathering, visiting family, and fulfilling ceremonial obligations. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant.

Name: Donna Loxton


Language: Manyjilyjarra


Community: Punmu


Biography:

Donna was born in Port Hedland. From there she went to Strelly, stayed there for a couple of years, then went to Jigalong. She went to school at Jigalong and Nullagine. She has lived in Punmu since 1983. She has two kids and works in the clinic full time. Donna has been painting with Martumili Artists since 2007, and has focussed on painting country around her home in Punmu community and also paints her grandmother's country where she walked in Pugiman days. She enjoys learning the stories and painting that country. In March 2009 she and the other women of Punmu decided to do a collaborative artwork to help raise funds for their community.


© the artist / art centre