Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community LaGrange Inc

Nyangumarta Warrarn (Country)

This painting represents the rocky outcrop and all the different areas of claypans, and the dark area represents all the jurnga (sands) in the cool time, warri (translation needed). All the light yellowish colour represents the paru (spinifex).

I like to go out working with the rangers and all the elders, I go out Country with them and they show me all the places, all mapped out with GPS. We mark out all the other places for next time. Sometimes I go out in the rangers vehicle and walk around the country and look around for goanna holes. We try to keep an eye on the animals, [monitoring them,] look out for all the bilby and skinks and everything with the Nyangumarta rangers. I go in my spare time because I’m busy you know, I’m busy with my artwork and council meetings.

In the cool dry time, when it’s a little bit warm, and cool in the morning, that’s when we do the fire patch burning. When we doing it also depends on the wind, the warngal, which way its blowing. We do that because it’s a big part of controlled fired. Wild fires, we don’t want them, they destroy the animals and their living area, destroy the Country. We do it too for the regrowth. When I went back to Country a couple of weeks ago, all the burned up area had a little bit of regrowth after a little bit of rain.

Moonga (sugar bag)

Goodoo (mud clam)

Untitled

Kulyakartu

This painting is about all the rocks and kurru (creeks) all around Kulyakartu and Kirriwirri.

We went camping there for to two weeks, we went to Wirnpa first and then to Kirriwirri. We camped in the nice flat ground in the open when we got to Kulyakartu. We visited the waterholes and soaks, cleaned them out, and made sure there were no dead animals. It was typical ranger work—making sure the animals and Country were surviving. We listened to Muuki and my grandfather talk about how they walked around trying to find waterholes, how my grandfather finally came to Bidyadanga, and how he met my grandmother.

I painted these paintings at home in Bidyadanga, near the ocean. The paintings are of Kulyakartu, which is in the Great Sandy Desert. There is a lot of spinifex, sandhills, wildlife, and little flowers like frangipanis—blue, red, and pink flowers just along the road when you’re driving.

When I’m not in the desert, I feel like I want to paint about it, and painting makes me feel like I want to be there. I think about Muuki and his brothers’ wishes for us to see the Country and be there. It’s important to paint about the Country because our Elders looked after the Country long before us.

When you look out of a plane, you can see lots of different colours, but I chose blues and greens because that’s how I want to express how I see the landscape.

When people see my paintings, they might say, “That could be the ocean,” but I say, “No, that’s Kulyakartu, the desert.” Blues and greens make me feel comfortable. For me, I like to keep colours separate and not mix them together.

Kulyakartu

This painting is about all the rocks and kurru (creeks) all around Kulyakartu and Kirriwirri.

We went camping there for to two weeks, we went to Wirnpa first and then to Kirriwirri. We camped in the nice flat ground in the open when we got to Kulyakartu. We visited the waterholes and soaks, cleaned them out, and made sure there were no dead animals. It was typical ranger work—making sure the animals and Country were surviving. We listened to Muuki and my grandfather talk about how they walked around trying to find waterholes, how my grandfather finally came to Bidyadanga, and how he met my grandmother.

I painted these paintings at home in Bidyadanga, near the ocean. The paintings are of Kulyakartu, which is in the Great Sandy Desert. There is a lot of spinifex, sandhills, wildlife, and little flowers like frangipanis—blue, red, and pink flowers just along the road when you’re driving.

When I’m not in the desert, I feel like I want to paint about it, and painting makes me feel like I want to be there. I think about Muuki and his brothers’ wishes for us to see the Country and be there. It’s important to paint about the Country because our Elders looked after the Country long before us.

When you look out of a plane, you can see lots of different colours, but I chose blues and greens because that’s how I want to express how I see the landscape.

When people see my paintings, they might say, “That could be the ocean,” but I say, “No, that’s Kulyakartu, the desert.” Blues and greens make me feel comfortable. For me, I like to keep colours separate and not mix them together.

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled