Untitled (kipara, bush turkey) Most often explored in Doreen’s works are the motifs of her everyday modern Aboriginal community life; the animals hunted and plants gathered for bush tucker, the cars and aeroplanes used to travel to the cities and remote communities she regularly moves between, and depictions of the Read more…
Rockholes and Tali (Sandhills) The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, Read more…
Marble Bar Marble Bar is a town and a rock formation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The town’s name was derived from the jasper rock at the bed of the Coongan River, which run’s adjacent to the town. Jasper is similar to marble in its appearance. Marble Bar is the 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…
Jila (snake, living water) The Western Desert term jila is used interchangeably to describe springs considered to be ‘living’ waters and snakes, both of which play a central role in Martu culture and Jukurrpa (Dreaming). During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, knowledge of water sources was critical for survival, Read more…
Bush Tucker “I like to paint bush foods and flowers.” – Mary Rowlands Depicted in this work are a combination of desert flowers and traditional types of mayi (plant food). During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source Read more…
Moolyella Rockhole “This is a rockhole- people coming this side and people coming round this [other] side, coming to that waterhole. This painting is about every rockhole in Moolyella, where I used to work… We would walk and get some water from the rockholes and go away back home- get Read more…
Bush Tucker “I like to paint bush foods and flowers.” – Mary Rowlands Depicted in this work are a combination of desert flowers and traditional types of mayi (plant food). During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source Read more…
Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora) “This painting shows Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora) and the waterholes. In pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) days we all walked from waterhole to waterhole. We were travelling around for a long time; we were all naked! We grew up walking all around these waterholes. This painting is Read more…
Jarntinti “This is a linyji (claypan). We find kalaru (seed used for making damper from samphire bush) there that we collect. Too much good tucker!” – Mayiwalku May Chapman Jarntinti is a large claypan at the Southern end of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), a large salt lake surrounded by tali (sand Read more…