Bidyadanga is a community located on the Kimberley coast in Western Australia, where the Great Sandy Desert meets the sea. The word Bidyadanga is derived from pijarta/ bidyada (emu watering hole).
Name: Ciarn Dean-Bullen
Community: Parnngurr
Biography:
"I like painting a lot, I learned from my dad and aunty. I like playing football and basketball. I grew up in Bidgy (Bidyadanga), I like going out fishing and hunting, I mostly like to paint animals and patterns and plants."
- Ciarn Dean-Bullen
Bidyadanga is a community located on the Kimberley coast in Western Australia, where the Great Sandy Desert meets the sea. The word Bidyadanga is derived from pijarta/ bidyada (emu watering hole).
Bidyadanga is Ciarn’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 one’s Country. Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. Common motifs depicted in her work relate specifically to her heritage of both saltwater country and desert, including marine animals, depictions of water, as well as desert landscapes.
Ciarn is family to fellow Martumili Artists Muuki Taylor OAM and Zia Dean-Bullen. Younger Martu artists often start painting alongside their parents, grandparents, and extended family, which fosters an organic learning process. This not only involves mastering painting techniques but also understanding specific locations, family histories, traditional ways of life, bush tucker, and Jukurrpa (Dreaming). Over time, with encouragement from their peers, they develop their own distinct styles and explore unique painting techniques and subject matter.
Purnumalarra Purnumalarra is a waterhole located along the Karlamilyi River (Rudall River). According to two of the central Martu Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, the Karlamilyi River and its surrounds were created by the ancestral beings Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) and the Wati Read more…
Puntawarri – Helen Dale Samson “All around is sandhills and lakes on every side. You can see the grass, but the lakes are all dry. In the middle is Puntawarri waterhole. That’s the jila (snake) Read more…
Mata Kulyu, or mata, is commonly known as the bush potato or weir vine. The climber grows up to six metres in height and is found with relative abundance in the central west region of Read more…