111582260369

Published by on

All the mima (women) -Sharon Porter

The site depicted in this work, situated to the east of Kiwirrkurra and on Pintupi Country, forms part of Sharon’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her grandmother, Katjarra Butler. Katjarra shared with Sharon the jukurrpa (dreaming) story for this area. This narrative describes how a distinctive group of rocks located here came to be formed by “all the mima (women) sitting down next to two rocks and one rockhole. They was eating bush tucker, yellow berries, and they was drinking water from one rockhole. They was in one place, and they was eating a big round one, that yellow berry. They was looking round and round for more. They never went, they stayed sitting in one place. They still there, they turned into rocks there.” (Sharon Porter)

The term Jukurrpa is often translated in English as the ‘dreaming’, or ‘dreamtime’. It refers generally to the period in which the world was created by ancestral beings, who assumed both human and nonhuman forms. These beings shaped what had been a formless landscape; creating waters, plants, animals, and people. At the same time they provided cultural protocols for the people they created, as well as rules for interacting with the natural environment. At their journey’s end, the ancestral beings transformed themselves into important waters, hills, rocks, and even constellations.

Categories: Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Name: Sharon Porter

Language: Ngaanyatjarra

Community: Tjukurla

Biography:

"I like to paint my grandmother’s Country around Kiwirrkurra. I was painting for a long time in Tjukurla. I like to paint with all the ladies, sitting around painting all together.” 

- Sharon Porter

Sharon Porter is part of the new generation of Martumili Artists. Inspired by the wisdom and creative legacy of the most senior and established artists in the group, these young and emerging artists are moving desert art forward in innovative and experimental directions.

Born in Alice Springs, Sharon grew up moving between remote desert communities along the Western Australian and Northern Territory borders; Kintore, Tjukurla, Warakuna and Kaltukatjarra (also known as Docker River). At this time, she lived principally with her grandfather, Anatjari Tjakamarra (dec.), and grandmother, Katjarra Butler- both celebrated artists in their own right. More recently, Sharon has been living in Kunawarritji with her aunt and fellow Martumili Artist, Roma Gibson.

Sharon learned to paint organically, watching her grandfather and grandmother at work and in this way absorbing their distinctive techniques and styles. In her own paintings, elements of Anatjari and Katjarra’s styles can be identified, with her bold, unrestrained geometric designs reminiscent of her grandmother’s work, and her intricate patterning paying homage to her grandfather’s style.

As stated by Sharon, she paints principally about her grandmother’s Country in the Kiwirrkurra area. Kiwirrkurra is a rockhole located in the tali (sandhill) Country of the Gibson Desert, to the south west of Lake McKay. An Aboriginal community by the same name is now located nearby, to the west of the water source.

Related Posts

Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

111582329197

Basket Weaving is a skill that has been practiced by Martu for thousands of years in the making of utilitarian and ceremonial items, such as yakapiri (bark sandals) and manguri (head pads for balancing carved carrying Read more…

Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

111582329664

Untitled This is Bugai’s Country- her ‘ngurra’ (home Country, camp). People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of Read more…

Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

111582329663

Wantili (Warntili, Canning Stock Route Well 25) “Bugai always tells about Wantili (Warntili, Canning Stock Route Well 25) because she grew up around Wantili. Her family would travel between Wantili, Kaalpa, Juntu-juntu, Raarki, and Wuranu Read more…

© the artist / art centre