This is my country out in Utopia an outstation called Soapy Bore it’s my Father’s country, there’s big soakage, hills, bush medicine and bush tucker. All my family paint, my grandmother, my mother and aunties. I like to paint, I think about my country, the colours and my family who have gone.
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr (dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
Wet season in the Pilbara fills all the lovely creeks and the rivers flow. It’s a lovely time of the year.
I think about looking at the escarpment when I am out on country. These are the colours that I see when I closely at the layers
I think about looking at the escarpment when I am out on country. These are the colours that I see when I closely at the layers
The Pilbara is a land of many Beautiful colours Its beauty blends into the mother earth and against the red,purple hills in the distance in time and season the yellow Wattles, Mulla and Sturt pea take its toll as the country comes alive with the wild flowers watered by the rain and heavy due during the night. Land and our country also tells a wonderful story about our ancestor’s they walk and lived on the land always gathering food such as fish from the river, hunting kangaroo’s, emu and tracking goanna’s also gathering bush fruits and medicine.
Anhelengkw (emu) dreaming is the breast body painting depicting the story of the mother emu who runs away and leaves the father emu to look after the eggs until they hatch, he then raises the chicks.
This story is passed down through Maisie’s family and celebrated in dance.
I am cooking a goanna I caught for dinner and making a cup of tea out in the bush when three wild horses run past. I am with Smokey the dog and he is really happy. When I go out bush, hunting, it is when I am happiest, I have no stress and all I have is peace.
“Wanti Yuu (Woman Yeah!) is a story of resilience and of women coming together. It is about the strength of the women in our community who put themselves last and take on a lot. She [Wanti Yuu] is someone who looks after her family, putting the grand kids and everyone around her first. The word Matriarch comes to mind. They are the matriarch of the family. The Boss Lady. Always helping everyone else out and leaving herself to the end. She paints, she teaches us her knowledge, like basket weaving and honey ant collecting. She is the top lore woman and her story of Pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) is so important. She is a leader of the Martu women and a senior artist. That’s all I can say about these women. These women; you give her the bread if you know what I mean. It’s a true story. Anything in my pockets. Because when you look at her, her stance, her energy and her vibe, you can feel it. You don’t muck around with Wanti Yuu.”
-Silvia Wilson
Wanti Yuu celebrates women’s resilience, matriarchal relationships, and Sylvia’s place in this story.
As Sylvia explains, the work is both a depiction of, and attribute to, the women in her life. “I follow my great grandmother’s guidance and direction in life. These women in my life carry so much on their shoulders, as well as the responsibility and future of our culture.”