February 2022

Wangakalu

Jakayu and Bugai lived nomadically for much of their youth, travelling extensively around the Western Desert in the pujiman (bush dwelling) era. Often their families walked together for periods of time through the year, typically separating for a time and then arranging to meet again further along at a rockhole or other water source. When the first group arrived at the meeting place they would light a large waru (fire) to signal their arrival. Through this family relationship Bugai and Jakayu were close friends, and today they are equally respected as senior Martumili artists. Here they have worked collaboratively to depict Wangkakarlu, a claypan where their families would regularly meet in the past.

Wangkakarlu, an important ceremonial site, lies southeast of Parnngurr. Jakayu recalls of the area; “Walk around Wangkakarlu, Bugai (Whyoulter) and me. Wangkakarlu Bugai daddy belong mili (Wangkakarlu was Bugai’s father’s home Country). My nyupa (husband) been take me [to Wangkakarlu] too.”

Bugai, speaking of the jila (snake) that lives at Wangakalu, says that when visiting the site a fire must be lit to keep the snake down in the depths of the yinta (permanent water source).

Wangakalu

Jakayu and Bugai lived nomadically for much of their youth, travelling extensively around the Western Desert in the pujiman (bush dwelling) era. Often their families walked together for periods of time through the year, typically separating for a time and then arranging to meet again further along at a rockhole or other water source. When the first group arrived at the meeting place they would light a large waru (fire) to signal their arrival. Through this family relationship Bugai and Jakayu were close friends, and today they are equally respected as senior Martumili artists. Here they have worked collaboratively to depict Wangkakarlu, a claypan where their families would regularly meet in the past.

Wangkakarlu, an important ceremonial site, lies southeast of Parnngurr. Jakayu recalls of the area; “Walk around Wangkakarlu, Bugai (Whyoulter) and me. Wangkakarlu Bugai daddy belong mili (Wangkakarlu was Bugai’s father’s home Country). My nyupa (husband) been take me [to Wangkakarlu] too.”

Bugai, speaking of the jila (snake) that lives at Wangakalu, says that when visiting the site a fire must be lit to keep the snake down in the depths of the yinta (permanent water source).

Untitled

This painting portrays part of the artist’s country where their family lived traditionally during the pujiman (bush) days. The Martu lived very nomadically moving from water source to water source hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. They would traverse very large distances visiting some areas in the dry and some in the wet season depending on the availability of water. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of country creating a larger diversity of plant and animal life.

Untitled

“When Martu paint, it’s like a map. Martu draw story on the ground and on the canvas, and all the circle and line there are the hunting areas and different waters and tracks where people used to walk, and [some you] can’t cross, like boundaries. So nowadays you see a colourful painting and wonder what it is, but that’s how Martu tell story long ago. It’s not just a lovely painting, it’s a story and a songline and a history and everything that goes with it.” 

– Ngalangka Nola Taylor and Joshua Booth

This work portrays an area of Country that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Firstly, the image may be read as an aerial representation of a particular location known to the artist- either land that they or their family travelled, from the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era to now. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. At this time, 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), different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation), ngarrini (camps), and jina (tracks) are typically recorded with the use of a use of a system of iconographic forms universally shared across the desert. 

An additional layer of meaning in the work relates to more intangible concepts; life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire) are also often evident. 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 evident 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. Very often, however, information relating to jukurrpa is censored by omission, or alternatively painted over with dotted patterns.

Wantili

Wantili is a large jurnu (soak) and lyinji (clay pan) near Well 25 on the Canning Stock Route. Wantili lies within Jakyu’s ngurra (home country), and she travelled extensively around this site as a young girl.

The area is dominated by claypans surrounded by tuwa (sandhills). Following rain the claypans are filled with water, with the overflow from nearby waterholes flowing to Wantili. At that time, Wantili becomes an important place for obtaining fresh water for drinking and bathing. Wantili is significant for the fact that at this site Kartujarra, Manyjilyjarra, Putujarra and Warnman people would all come together for ceremonies. Many jiwa (stones used by women for grinding seeds) from these times can still be found there today.

Untitled

This painting portrays physical elements of Martu Country, such as the dominant tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and water sources. Rock holes, waterholes, soaks and springs were all extremely important sites for Martu people during the pujiman (nomadic bush) era, with many important jukurrpa (dreamtime stories) chronicling the creation of these landmarks. In the past the Martu lived nomadically, moving from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of country creating a larger diversity of plant and animal life.

Kulyakartu

“My Country, Kulyakartu. I grew up there, from little boy to big boy grew up there.”

This painting depicts Muuki’s Country, Kulyakartu; an area in the far north of the Martu homelands, near the Percival Lakes in the northern Great Sandy Desert. The artist has extensive knowledge of the country in this region, where he grew up living traditionally during the pujiman (bush) days with his family. Kulyakartu is mostly grass country where there is very good hunting. There is no permanent water around so his family would come here annually following the wet season.

Muuki paints his country in all its different seasonal stages. Often visible in his work is the patchwork nature of regrowth subsequent to the practice of fire burning to assist with hunting, regenerate growth, and encourage greater diversity in plant and animal life.

Kinyu (Canning Stock Route Well 35)

Kinyu (Canning Stock Route Well 35) is a small yinta (permanent spring) that was a popular camping ground during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era. The site is home to the ancestral mother dingo, who is both a generous provider and fierce protector of her Martu countrymen. Kinyu is so revered that the site and its associated ancestral being are often deferentially referred to as jarntu (dog) in place of uttering the actual name. The site is believed to possess healing and magical powers, and children born here are said to inherit these same powers.

During the Jukurrpa (Dreaming), Kinyu was the home for a family of dingoes; a mother, father, and their litter of pups. Originally the family had travelled to Wirlarra, following the call of the moon. At Wirlarra the moon cared for them and created a windbreak for the family to shelter. The dingoes stayed for a time at Wirlarra, scratching into the earth to create several distinctive small salt water pools which are still visited by the Martu for their healing properties. After a time, the dingoes continued travelling eastward toward the rising moon until they reached Kinyu, where they remained until all of the dingo pups had grown up. From Kinyu the family travelled further east. 

The intersection of the Canning Stock Route with Kinyu also made this a site of early contact with Europeans for many Martu then living a pujiman life in the desert. Following the route’s construction, Martu encountered Europeans and other Martu working as cattle drovers as they would travel up and down the Stock Route from water source to water source. Increasingly, pujimanpa (desert dwellers) followed the route to newly established ration depots, mission and pastoral stations. They were drawn to the route in search of food, by a sense of curiosity, or by loneliness. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, most of the desert family groups had left the desert. Eventually, these factors combined with an extreme and prolonged drought in the 1960s to prompt the few remaining pujimanpa to move in from the desert.

Wantili

Wantili, which forms the focus of much of Bugai’s work, is a large round jurnu (soak) and lyinji (claypan) near Well 25 on the Canning Stock Route. It lies close to Bugai’s birthplace, and is her ngurra (home country). The area is dominated by claypans surrounded by tuwa (sandhills). Following rain the typically dry claypans are filled with water, with the overflow from nearby waterholes flowing to Wantili. At that time, Wantili becomes an important place for obtaining fresh water for drinking and bathing. Wantili is significant for the fact that at this site Kartujarra, Manyjilyjarra, Putujarra and Warnman people would all come together for ceremonies. Manyjiwa (stones used by women for grinding seeds) from these times can still be found there today.

(As translated by Bugai’s grandson, Cyril Whyoulter) “Bugai always tells about Wantili because she grew up around Wantili. Her family would travel between Wantili, Kaalpa, Juntujuntu, Raarki, and Wuranu Wells along the Canning Stock Route. She paints around Wantili. She saw whitefellas there for the first time, Canning mob when they were travelling up and down the stock route with the bullock. She was a young girl walking around at Wantili. Big mob of people they been walking around there. Canning and his drovers were travelling, making the road. They were running away from those whitefellas, watching them from a long distance. She was a teenager when she was travelling around there with her four mothers and one daddy. They used to travel around in family groups, Bugai and Jakayu [Biljabu], and Jakayu’s nyupa (partner) Phillip Biljabu.” Bugai returned to the Wantili area as a young woman, when she worked driving cattle along the Stock Route.