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Kulyakartu

“I paint mainly about Kulyakartu Country and Kirriwirri Country. Both are in the Great Sandy Desert in the Pilbara. These places mean home to me — Ancestors’ homes, my family’s home, my nanna’s home. I paint because we don’t get out on this Country often and painting is a way of having a connection.

Our nanna never told us her life living out in the desert. It’s sandy, they have waterholes and gum trees. I feel at peace when I’m out there. A bit of rocky terrain out there where the waterholes are. Feeling, belonging.

I remember when we were out there and our grandfathers were telling us stories of when they were kids and when they would play around in the trees. Just sitting around the campfire and seeing their faces light up when telling their stories. I felt complete when her brothers shared it.”
 – Corina Jadai

This artwork shares the story of Kulyakartu, a vast and peaceful area north-east of the community, on the edge of Nyangumarta and Martu Country. Kulyakartu is a place of wide open skies, long claypans, sandhills and soft grasses that come alive after rain.

Families remember camping there, visiting waterholes, looking for goanna and bush foods, watching birds, and travelling with old people who knew every dune, track and soak. The painting celebrates the beauty and calm of Kulyakartu, often shown through soft lines and dots that follow the movement of water and sand. It honours the knowledge of where to find water, how to move across Country, and the deep belonging felt when returning to ancestral places.

Through this work, the artist invites viewers to feel that stillness and connection — the strength of Country, memory and family.