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This work portrays an area known intimately to the artist, painted here in exquisite detail from memory. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), and different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation) were carefully observed and remembered. Today, this relationship with Country remains equally strong, despite the movement of Martu out of the desert and into remote Aboriginal Communities, towns and cities.

Also visible may be traces of life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire). A thousands of year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is visible in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth.  

Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. 

Categories: Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Name: Emily Bumba

Biography:

I was born in La Grange Mission- now it’s called Bidyadanga community. Bidyadanga means emu drinking from a waterhole in Karajarri language. Bidyadanga is home to four other tribes besides Karajarri. They came from the desert- the Mangala, Nyangamarta, Juwaliny and Yulparrija tribes. My father’s tribe is from the Ngurrara area (Joanna Springs) and his language group is Mangala. My mother’s tribe is Manyjillyjarra. She’s from the Great Sandy Desert, Kulyakartu area.

I, myself go by two ways- my mother’s and my father’s way. I am Milangka skin, my father is Panaka and my mother is Karimarra. I have six sisters including myself and one brother. I grew up in Bidyadanga and I was schooling at La Grange Remote School up until grade seven. I did my years eight to ten at Nulungu College in Broome. I did further education in Saint Mary’s school in Leederville until year twelve. I was placed in a foster house in Perth while I was schooling- I went back and forth during school holidays to be with my family.

Growing up in Bidyadanga was strict! My father was really protective of all of us- my sisters and brother. He wanted the best for us, for our education, and to have respect for our elders and for our family members. My father was working for the mission, he was a manager helping Father McKelson. Working alongside beside him was John Dodo, a Karajarri tribal elder, and Jack Malardy, also a Karajarri tribal elder. My mother was working at the bakery shop along with the other local ladies. She was also working with the nuns doing laundry and ironing and cooking for the lay missionaries.

The reason why I took up painting is because both of my parents came from the desert, the Martu and Ngurrara area. Working with the old people here at the Martumili Artists centre is giving me more connection to my mother and father’s country, because both of my parents have passed away. I feel privileged working with my elders, Wokka and Muuki and [Kanu] Nancy Taylor (dec.), my mother’s brothers and her sister in law. Their stories will continue on in my paintings.

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