August 2022

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Untitled

This is Ngamaru’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. 

Ngamaru’s ngurra encompasses the Country that she and her family walked in the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era. At this time Ngamaru travelled nomadically with her own and other family groups, most notably the Biljabu and Whyoulter families. 

Ngamaru was born at Martilirri (Canning Stock Route Well 22). She grew up, walked and hunted primarily around Wikiri, Rarrki (Canning Stock Route Well 27), Wantili (Warntili, Canning Stock Route Well 25), Pitu, Nyilangkurr and Nyinyari. She continued to live nomadically before eventually deciding to move to Jigalong Mission along with many other relatives following an extreme and prolonged drought in the 1960s. 

Portrayed in this work are features of Ngamaru’s ngurra, such as the striking salt lakes, dominant permanent red tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and the individually named water sources Ngamaru and her family camped at. These include Julyjarru, Juntiwa, Jaturti, Karanyal (Canning Stock Route Well 20), Martilirri (Canning Stock Route Well 22), Kaalpa (Canning Stock Route Well 23), Kartarru (Blue Hills Station, Canning Stock Route Well 24), Wantili (Canning Stock Route Well 25, Tiwa (Canning Stock Route Well 26), Rarrki (Canning Stock Route Well 27), Warla-warla (Canning Stock Route Well 31), Kulilu, Kunapila, Nyilangkurr, Parnngurr, Pitu, Purn, Wangkakalu, Wikiri, Yiranang, and Yulpu. Rock holes, waterholes, soaks and springs were all extremely important sites for Martu people during the pujiman period, and are generally depicted with circular forms. 

The encyclopaedic knowledge of the location, quality and seasonal availability of the hundreds of water bodies found in one’s Country sustained Martu as they travelled across their Country, hunting and gathering, visiting family, and fulfilling ceremonial obligations. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of Country, generating a greater diversity of plant and animal life.

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Untitled

“I like painting. It’s a good way to learn from the old people and keep the stories going.”

 – Cyril Whyoulter

Cyril Whyoulter is one of the most dynamic and exciting practitioners to emerge from the youngest generation of Martumili Artists. He, like his contemporaries, began to paint with his parents, grandparents and extended family, thus fostering an organic process of learning not only about painting techniques, but also specific locations, family histories, traditional ways of life, and Jukurrpa (Dreaming). He has been a key driving force behind a number of major collaborative projects that have promoted the transfer of cultural knowledge through visual arts, including exhibitions; Pujiman (Desert dwelling, traditional) and Wantili (Warntili, Canning Stock Route Well 25).

Stylistically Cyril’s work melds traditional, contemporary, and experimental elements, demonstrating the development of his own aesthetic while continuing to reflect the powerful influence of his elders. Cyril first began drawing with his grandfather Larry Patterson, and later began painting with his mother, Betty Whyoulter, and grandmother and renowned Martumili artist, Bugai Whyoulter. Having collaborated with and worked alongside Bugai in particular, her influence is most readily identifiable in his work.

Frequently depicted in Cyril’s paintings are Jukurrpa narratives, Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) and Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men), as well as various sites forming part of his family’s ngurra (home Country, camp). These sites encompass a large tract of land, ranging from the south western edge of the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region through to Wantili, and north to the area surrounding Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33).  

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Skin group

“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.

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Wuukurta (honey ants)

Wuukurta (honey ants) are found in a variety of arid or semiarid environments, with nests of up to two metres deep and more than two metres across. Wuukurta are a highly sought after bush tucker, known otherwise as ‘bush lollies’ due to their sweet, honey like taste. They are eaten whilst still alive by holding the head and legs between two fingers and biting off the thorax. Martu dig for wuukurta nests through the seasons, but they are known to be especially abundant following the rains.

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) 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. Whilst desert life has moved away from mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence throughout the course of the twentieth century, bush tucker continues to be a significant component of the modern Martu diet. Hunting and gathering bush tucker remains equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally. Though hunting and gathering implements have been modernised, methods of harvesting, tracking and the use of fire burning to drive animals from their retreats are still commonly practiced today.

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Ngurra (home Country, camp)

“Ngurra is a very special country where we grew-up. We go mostly out on country and camp out. We go swimming and looking for honey on the trees. We would hunt turkey, emu, kangaroo, look for bardi (witchetty grub), honey ants, yellow berries. It’s an outstation. We call it home. We grew up there. Good memories of that place.” 

– Roxanne Newberry 

The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. 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. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Country for Martu is full of memory; not just the memory of their own movement through it, but also of their family. As summarised by Ngalangka Nola Taylor, “painting the ngurra, they do it to remember their connections.” 

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. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area.  

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Kartarru (Blue Hills Station, Canning Stock Route Well 24)

“This Country is Bugai’s mother’s Country where they would stay for periods of time because they could hunt there and there was good, permanent kapi (water). Kartarru is Well 24 on the Canning Stock Route.“

– Bugai Whyoulter, as translated by Bugai’s grandson, Cyril Whyoulter

At Kartarru (Blue Hills Station, Canning Stock Route Well 24), located northeast of Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment), good drinking water is reliably available, and minyarra (bush onion) grows in seasonal abundance. For these reasons the site was a popular camping area during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era. Kartarru is also significant as a site in two important Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men) and Minyipuru (Jakulyukulyu, or Seven Sisters). 

Kartarru was a regular camp site for Bugai in her youth. At this time Bugai travelled nomadically with her own and other family groups, most notably the Bidu family. The Country they traversed encompassed an enormous tract of land, with an aerial distance of more than 600 kilometres, from present day Balfour Downs Station to Kunawarritji. Typically, families would travel together for a time before arranging to meet further along at another camp site. When they arrived at the meeting place, they would light a large waru (fire) so that the others would know where they were.

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Kurturarra

“Kurturarra is my Grandmother’s Country. Warla (lake) with a spring. Tali (sandhills) all around.”

 – Beverley Rogers

This site lies within Beverley’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her grandmother. Kurturarra is a yinta (permanent spring) located within the largest of the salt lakes in the Percival Lakes region, and surrounded by acacia trees. The Percival Lakes form a string of ephemeral salt lakes in the north of Western Australia, extending across a distance of 350km. They lie at the southern region of the Great Sandy Desert and east of the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region.

The region surrounding Kurturarra was formed by Wirnpa, one of the most powerful of the ancestral jila (snake) men and the last to travel the desert during the Jukurrpa (Dreaming). Wirnpa is a rainmaking jila who lived and hunted in the Percival Lakes area. His travels are described in the songs and stories of many language groups across the Western Desert, even those far removed from his home site. In his epic travels, Wirnpa met and feasted with many other ancestral beings, exchanged ceremonial objects, and created a series of different laws and ceremonies. When he finally returned home, he searched for his many children only to discover that they had already died. They had laid down and become the salt springs of the Percival Lakes. Wirnpa wept for his children before himself transforming into a snake and entering the soak where he still resides.

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Kartarru (Blue Hills Station, Canning Stock Route Well 24)

“This Country is Bugai’s mother’s Country where they would stay for periods of time because they could hunt there and there was good, permanent kapi (water). Kartarru is Well 24 on the Canning Stock Route.“

– Bugai Whyoulter, as translated by Bugai’s grandson, Cyril Whyoulter

At Kartarru (Blue Hills Station, Canning Stock Route Well 24), located northeast of Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment), good drinking water is reliably available, and minyarra (bush onion) grows in seasonal abundance. For these reasons the site was a popular camping area during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era. Kartarru is also significant as a site in two important Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men) and Minyipuru (Jakulyukulyu, or Seven Sisters). 

Kartarru was a regular camp site for Bugai in her youth. At this time Bugai travelled nomadically with her own and other family groups, most notably the Bidu family. The Country they traversed encompassed an enormous tract of land, with an aerial distance of more than 600 kilometres, from present day Balfour Downs Station to Kunawarritji. Typically, families would travel together for a time before arranging to meet further along at another camp site. When they arrived at the meeting place, they would light a large waru (fire) so that the others would know where they were.

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Ngurra (home Country, camp)

“Ngurra is a very special country where we grew-up. We go mostly out on country and camp out. We go swimming and looking for honey on the trees. We would hunt turkey, emu, kangaroo, look for bardi (witchetty grub), honey ants, yellow berries. It’s an outstation. We call it home. We grew up there. Good memories of that place.” 

– Roxanne Newberry 

The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. 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. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Country for Martu is full of memory; not just the memory of their own movement through it, but also of their family. As summarised by Ngalangka Nola Taylor, “painting the ngurra, they do it to remember their connections.” 

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. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area.