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Yalta (cold)
In the heart of central Western Australia, the Martu people are the traditional owners of a vast landscape stretching from the Great Sandy Desert in the north to Wiluna in the south. Across this Country, their lives are bound by a common ancestral heritage, law, and culture. To one another, they are walytja (family). Inspired and informed by their predecessors, Ned represents familiar themes of tradition, culture, and Country in exciting and experimental ways. “It’s about sitting close together, waru (fire) burning and staying warm” – Ned Booth This piece depicts Bidu ngurra (home Country, camp), the area which is found in the sandplains, sandhills and rocky hills of Western Australia’s Mid-West, Pilbara. As Ned explains, this work is a depiction of coming together in the colder months. When it was kurluwa (winter rain), Martu would build a wuungku (shelter) where they could sleep and stay warm beside a waru (fire). When they camped in a particular location for a period the elders would go hunting, leaving the children behind.