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Published by CompNet Systems on September 27, 2023

Lyerpa

It’s important for me to paint the Lyerpa because with this painting of the Lyerpa flower, I remind the young generation how the story of the Serpent Snake and the Lyerpa are connected to our culture and people. Paintings help transfer important knowledge to the next generation. I experimented with a limited palette of colours as a comparison with my usual practice, where I use many more colours.

The Lyerpa is the mother-in-law to the Rainbow Serpent Snake. The Snake will avoid the mothers-in-law it won’t have any contact with them. The Snake will chase and attack people, but once people get close to the tree they will be saved, as the Snake will not go anywhere near the Lyerpa. This story is about the Lyerpa and the Serpent Snake, connected to Dreamtime and the old people. The message from this story was used as a method to protect oneself: if you saw a snake you would know that you can hide under the Lyerpa tree.

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Categories: Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands art centre

Name: Selma Nunay Coulthard

Language: Luritja, Arrente, Western Aranda

Community: Alice Springs

Biography:

Selma is an accomplished acrylic and watercolour painter. She grew up in Ntaria (Hermannsburg) where she went to school with fellow artist Ivy Pareroultja.

Selma states about herself: "My name is Selma Coulthard and my Aboriginal name is Nunay. I am a Pertama Maduthara Luritja Tribe from Urrampinyi (Tempe Downs Station) which is located South West of Alice Springs in Central Australia. I was born in Alice Springs in 1954 and grew up at Tempe Downs until the Government started to remove half caste kids from their families and put them in mission boarding homes. I was taken to Ntaria where I did my schooling. It is here that my love for art started when I saw Ivy Pareroultja painting Mt. Hermannsburg. In the 1950s my father used to work as a tourist guide at Palm Valley (a spot we called Titjarritjarra) and I used to see watercolour painters working on site. I have always wanted to be an artist and I just hope that my work will be recognised.

No work is the same each piece is unique in its own right. I usually try and remember the landscape and the way the colours change in different times of the day, sometime I see purple, orange and red. My colours are always true to my country. My first ever watercolour painting, when I was in grade 6, was photographed for the National Geographic magazine. I have always created artwork based on my stories: my work on Mulga Spinifex Country, my country where I grew up and lived - Urrampinyi (Tempe Downs), the oasis in the Desert at Urrampinyi, running Waters at Irrmakara, spiritual keepers of our land, my Dreaming - the Thorny Devil, animals in my country, paintings depicting women’s ceremonial site (business) and more."

Special Project

2014 Collage workshop with Roland Souliere, Alice Springs, NT

2019 Lumen Prints Workshop with AGNSW, Alice Springs, NT

2019 Cicada Press etching workshop, Sydney, NSW

© the artist / art centre