Nawarlah (Brown River Stingray) Aboriginal art in Ramingining, Central Arnhem Land is commonly illustrated through designs and images of animals, plants, and landscape. These motifs commonly reflect the artists ancestral inheritance and their dreamings and are referred to as totems.
Yawkyawk (Ngalkunburriyaymi) This is a depiction of Ngalkunburriyaymi or Yawkyawk, the fish-women spirit. Sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids, they exist as spiritual beings living in freshwater streams, particularly those in the stone country. These water spirits are perhaps the most enigmatic, and are usually described and depicted with the tails of fish. Thus Read more…
Salt Lake at Kulyakartu Kulyakartu is a large area in the far north of the Martu homelands, near the Percival Lakes region of Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Kulyakartu is mostly flat grass Country where there is very good hunting. In particular parnajarrpa (goanna), wild cats, and lunki (witchetty grub) Read more…
Wild Desert Flowers on the Canning Stock Route “I love going out bush camping. I’ve been going out to my mothers and fathers country and looking around at all that. The flowers are always blooming up in September. When you’re travelling on Ranger trips from Wiluna over the sand dunes Read more…
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 Read more…
Pinarti Seeds [The] old people used to collect [the seeds] to attach to their hair and keep the fly out… they glue it in and wax it up with spinifex [resin]. They thread it up using their hair and make it into necklace. – Nola Taylor They’re seeds you find Read more…
Canning Stock Route – Well 18 “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 Read more…
Karlkula (Bush Banana, Silky Pear, Native Pear) Karlkula (bush banana, silky pear or native pear) is a vine found throughout the dry regions of Western Australia and Central Australia. From November to April, and following rains, the plant produces fruit. When young, the green fruit is eaten raw. Older fruits are Read more…
Wamurla / Wamula (Bush Tomatoes) Wamula, or wamurla (bush tomato) is a spherical yellow bush fruit harvested from small, prickly shrubs. Wamurla are a favoured bush tucker amongst the Martu, popular for their sweet taste and for the relative ease with which they are foraged. The shrubs prolifically produce purple Read more…
Waterholes This work depicts a waterhole within the artists’ ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. Waterholes are sites that require maintenance, including digging to increase flow, clearing out surrounding growth, and cleaning up after sullying by camels or cattle. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, knowledge Read more…