221282359836
Kungkarangkalpa / Seven Sisters
Kungkarangkalpa means the Seven Sisters. This is an extensive creation story that relates to the Pleiades constellation in the southern hemisphere. The story traverses Australia taking on different forms, however local women are privy to the part of the story which takes place in the country near Ernabella. For this part of the story, the man called Nyiru is chasing the sisters as he wants to sleep with the oldest sister. All the younger sisters are deeply afraid of him. As Nyiru is chasing the sisters, he tries to catch them by using magic to turn himself into the most tempting bush tomatoes for the sisters to eat and the most beautiful ili (fig) tree for the sisters to camp under. However, the sisters are aware of his magic and go hungry and run through the night rather than be caught by Nyiru. Eventually, to escape Nyiru, the sisters fly into the sky where they turn into stars and form the constellation.
221282359835
Ikarka – Spotted Bowerbird
When I was a little kid me and my family used to go hunting for tjala (honey ants) in the bush and we used to see a lot of ikarka under the mulga trees. The birds were collecting snails and little shiny things like glass, necklace, anything that shines, sometimes even money. Those birds collect anything and everything that’s pretty.
Ikarka have a big nest in the long grass and they sit in the middle. They hide the shiny things under the snail shells. We used to move the snails and find the things they’ve hidden. Dad always said ‘go and play in the bush and you might get lucky’ and I did, I found $1 and $2 coins.
221282359834
Carlene’s Mamu – Spirit Figures
Carlene’s depiction of mamu has been told to her by her grandfather and grandmother. These mamu are the spirits of the ancestors who appear in the bush at night time.
A mamu is a spirit which lives near waterholes. Mamu are usually depicted as bad spirits or monsters in traditional Pitjantjatjara stories, particularly those told to children by adults in order to scare them and thereby keep them close by and safe.
Mamu can be dangerous especially for children, they are shape shifters and can appear like animals. Carlene’s mamu have scales, big fluffy ears, claws and a smile. When startled they make a growling sound like a nocturnal gecko called papangaurpa.
221282359832
Ngayuku Walka / My Design
Walka means design or pattern. Artists use this title to describe artworks that are pattern based rather than descriptive or telling a story.
221282359830
Kampurarpa Tjukurpa – Elizabeth’s Story
Kampurarpa are bush tomatoes. Elizabeth’s work comments on the environmental change that has occurred on her country due to the introduction of non-native fauna such as cattle, and flora, notably weeds like buffel grass. Buffel grass is so widespread and destructive that it is commonly known in and around Pukatja as tjanpi mamu or devil grass.
From the very start of Elizabeth’s artistic practice she has drawn her kampurarpa tjukurpa (bush tomato story) in clay. In the old times kampurarpa were one of the main foods for Anangu.
I’ve seen the land change. We used to have a lot of flowers. We used to go out to the bush to collect bush tucker, like kampurarpa (bush tomatoes). And now there’s a lot of buffel grass everywhere. The land is changed by the buffel grass. Now there’s no more flowers – no purple flowers, yellow flowers, white or pink flowers. I’ve seen it. When all the cattle and the sheep and the goats came, the kangaroos left and went a long way away. They saw the strange animals and they left. That’s a true story.
Today, sometimes we still go out and collect kampurarpa but not like we did before. Our country has been changed by cattle and weeds like buffel grass, so we can’t find all the old foods like we once did. I’ll keep telling the kampurarpa story in my work, that keeps the stories, songs and dances about these important foods alive and strong.
221282359829
Ngayuku Walka / My Design
Walka means design or pattern. Artists use this title to describe artworks that are pattern based rather than descriptive or telling a story.
221282359828
Tjukula/Waterholes
For the Pitjantjatjara people living in the desert, knowledge of their water sources was critical to their survival. This resulted in an intimate understanding of the landscape which continues today. Water is an essential element in the desert. These rock holes were particularly important during the dry season when most of the water holes and creeks dried up. Deep familiarity with the topography of their country and the way rain would interact with the land ensured constant sources of water could be found. Knowledge of rock hole sites is passed on from generation to generation and revered by all Anangu (people).
Tjukula means rock-holes, which are found with surprising frequency in the Musgrave Ranges and country around Ernabella. Between visits, Anangu would use a construction of rocks and spinifex to guard these important water sources from spoilage by feral and stock animals such as cattle, camels, horses and donkeys.
221282359827
Maku (Witchetty Grub) Derek’s Story
This is a tjukurpa (story) from near Mimili on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands from when Aṉangu (people) came here a long time ago. When the maku (witchetty grub) was finished, people sang the maku to make them come back. They sang and danced and scattered leaves to make the maku come out of the ground. This is Derek’s grandmother’s story. She used to dance to these songs when she lived in Mimili and she’s now buried there.
Derek’s cousin says: ‘So when they dance to that maku song, that song develops all the bush food – maku under the ground to grow more bigger and to have more maku in the roots. So when the ladies dig it they can see it really close in the roots as well. They can be like five of them but they have to be really, really big’.
Until relatively recently bush foods were the primary source of sustenance for Aṉangu and maku is still one of the favourites. Many bush foods are still gathered regularly almost exclusively by women, and they feature strongly in artistic mark making. Women learn the art of gathering each of the foods from a young age and much inma (ceremony) relates to these practices and the maintenance of supply.
221282359826
Tjukula/Waterholes
For the Pitjantjatjara people living in the desert, knowledge of their water sources was critical to their survival. This resulted in an intimate understanding of the landscape which continues today. Water is an essential element in the desert. These rock holes were particularly important during the dry season when most of the water holes and creeks dried up. Deep familiarity with the topography of their country and the way rain would interact with the land ensured constant sources of water could be found. Knowledge of rock hole sites is passed on from generation to generation and revered by all Anangu (people).
Tjukula means rock-holes, which are found with surprising frequency in the Musgrave Ranges and country around Ernabella. Between visits, Anangu would use a construction of rocks and spinifex to guard these important water sources from spoilage by feral and stock animals such as cattle, camels, horses and donkeys.