Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

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Untitled

This is Bugai’s Country- her ‘ngurra’ (home Country). The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country. Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the jukurrpa (dreamtime) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance.   

This painting represents the Country Bugai lived in and walked through with her family in her youth. She traversed the area from Pukayiyirna, where she was born near to what is now Balfour Downs Station, all around the Parnngurr area and up and down the Canning Stock Route as far as Kunawarritji (Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route). 

Portrayed are features of Martu Country, such as the dominant tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and water sources. Rock holes, waterholes, soaks and springs were all extremely important sites for Martu people during the pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) period. The encyclopaedic knowledge of the location, quality and seasonal availability of the hundreds of water bodies found in one’s Country sustained Martu as they travelled across their Country, hunting and gathering, visiting family, and fulfilling ceremonial obligations. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of country, generating a greater diversity of plant and animal life.

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Untitled

This is Yunkurra’s Country- his ‘ngurra’ (home Country, camp). People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country. Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. 

Yunkurra’s ngurra encompasses his birthplace, Palatji (Palarji, Weld Springs, Canning Stock Route Well 9), and the Country that he and his family walked in the pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) era. Yunkurra grew up, walked and hunted primarily around the areas surrounding Kumpupirntily (Lake Disappointment), Kupayura (Savory Creek) and Jilukurru (Killagurra Springs, Canning Stock Route Well 17). Eventually, as a ‘young fella’ he, like most other Martu at the time, began working on pastoral stations around the Pilbara, ‘mustering bullock, sheep too.’ In later life Yunkurra relocated to Jigalong Aboriginal community, closer to his home Country. 

Portrayed in this work are features of Yunkurra’s ngurra, such as the striking salt lakes, dominant permanent red tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and the individually named water sources he and his family camped at. Rock holes, waterholes, soaks and springs were all extremely important sites for Martu people during the pujiman period, and are generally depicted with circular forms. 

The encyclopaedic knowledge of the location, quality and seasonal availability of the hundreds of water bodies found in one’s Country sustained Martu as they travelled across their Country, hunting and gathering, visiting family, and fulfilling ceremonial obligations. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of Country, generating a greater diversity of plant and animal life.

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Kurnalimpi

“This is my country, my little brother was born here in Pujiman times, I was a big girl no man yet. we were walking a long way, in the painting you can see the tali (sand hills) and the burning country.”

– Nancy Nyanjilpayi Chapman

 

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Parnajarrpa (sand goanna)

Parnajarrpa (sand goanna) are one of the most prized and reliable food sources hunted by Martu, found throughout Australia in sand plain and dune habitats. They are hunted by both men and women, though more often women working either alone or in pairs. Parnajarrpa hibernate in the cool months, emerging seasonally as temperatures warm in tuulparra (spring). When parnajarrpa are active they are tracked and dug from their burrows. When they are hibernating their burrows are ‘sounded’ by tapping wana (digging-sticks) on the ground, and then excavated. Traditional carved wana have been replaced with metal bars, though burning and tracking techniques continue to be practiced in the hunting of parnajarrpa.  Targeted waru (fire) clears vegetation and exposes burrows, whilst simultaneously providing diverse regenerating habitats for future parnajarrpa. When consumed, they are singed and then cooked in a coal and ash bed. 

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. Whilst desert life has moved away from mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence throughout the course of the twentieth century, bush tucker continues to be a significant component of the modern Martu diet. Hunting and gathering bush tucker remains equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally. Though hunting and gathering implements have been modernised, methods of harvesting, tracking and the use of fire burning to drive animals from their retreats are still commonly practiced today.

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Untitled

Doreen first learned to paint alongside her mother, beginning her artistic career with Martumili Artists in March 2009 when she and the other women of Punmu painted a large collaborative artwork to raise funds for the community. Doreen is now an established artist in her own right, known for her loose, uninhibited painting style. As a deaf woman, painting is an important means of communication and expression for Doreen. As a deaf woman, painting is an important means of communication and expression for Doreen.

Doreen likes to paint the comings and goings of community life- the motorcars, aeroplanes and critters that populate her homes of Warralong, Punmu and Port Hedland.

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Pirnijarra

This painting depicts the artist’s Country, where she and her sisters and fellow artists May Wokka Chapman and Nyanjilpayi Nancy Chapman lived and camped as children. Mulyatingki and her family walked extensively through this area with their extended family during pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) times.

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Well 35

This work portrays an area known intimately to the artist, painted here in detail from memory. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), and different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation) were carefully observed and remembered. Today, this relationship with Country remains equally strong, despite the movement of Martu out of the desert and into remote Aboriginal Communities, towns and cities.

Also visible may be traces of life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire). A thousands of year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is visible in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth.  

Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; jukurrpa (dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. 

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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 a colourful painting and wonder what it is, but that’s how Martu tell story long ago. It’s not just a lovely painting, it’s a story and a songline and a history and everything that goes with it.” 

– Ngalangka Nola Taylor and Joshua Booth

This work portrays an area of Country that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Firstly, the image may be read as an aerial representation of a particular location known to the artist- either land that they or their family travelled, from the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era to now. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. At this time, one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation), ngarrini (camps), and jina (tracks) are typically recorded with the use of a use of a system of iconographic forms universally shared across the desert. 

An additional layer of meaning in the work relates to more intangible concepts; life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire) are also often evident. A thousands of year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is evident in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth.  

Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. Very often, however, information relating to Jukurrpa is censored by omission, or alternatively painted over with dotted patterns.

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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 a colourful painting and wonder what it is, but that’s how Martu tell story long ago. It’s not just a lovely painting, it’s a story and a songline and a history and everything that goes with it.” 

– Ngalangka Nola Taylor and Joshua Booth

This work portrays an area of Country that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Firstly, the image may be read as an aerial representation of a particular location known to the artist- either land that they or their family travelled, from the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era to now. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. At this time, one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation), ngarrini (camps), and jina (tracks) are typically recorded with the use of a use of a system of iconographic forms universally shared across the desert. 

An additional layer of meaning in the work relates to more intangible concepts; life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire) are also often evident. A thousands of year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is evident in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth.  

Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; jukurrpa (dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. Very often, however, information relating to jukurrpa is censored by omission, or alternatively painted over with dotted patterns.

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Nyurnma (Freshly Burnt Country) near Punmu (2018)

“Nyurnma (freshly burnt Country), burnt area north from Punmu [in]sandhill Country.

One big one, no yukuri (green grass, vegetation) left. Last year [2018], no rain yet. Big area. From lighting did it, it started that waru (fire). It kept burning from the westerly wind turning it kakarra (east) [moves hands around gesturing the fire moving around]. That burning was moving around. No rocks, only tuwa (sandhills) tuwa, tuwa and waru (fire).

I went up in the helicopter from Punmu and saw that Country. That time the waru finished. The country was clear- good for hunting, you can easily see the tracks. Plenty parnajarrpa (sand goanna) there, big one. Nyurnma only. It was a no good feeling- really big one, out of control [The fire was burning a large area of Country and became out of control].

Long time ago in pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) times same way- big fires would start from lighting. Here is the red dirt, marked little bit like the colours left after a camp fire, but from lighting here now.”

– Wokka Taylor

This work depicts Country around Punmu following a large and uncontrolled fire that resulted from a lightning storm in 2018. This type of fire differs to the controlled fire burning as it continues to be practiced through the Martu homelands. Over thousands of years, as Martu travelled and hunted on foot they would burn tracts of land, using waru as a means to assist with hunting, to encourage regenerative growth, and to increase biodiversity.

Targeted waru is an important tool in animal tracking. Small burns are lit to clear vegetation, expose burrows, and to allow for access to walk and track readily in exposed sands. Fires are typically burnt during cooler weather in small, controlled areas, reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires like that depicted in this work. Remaining is a defined mosaic fire scar pattern in the land, across tali (sand dunes), linyji (claypans), parulyukurru (spinifex country) and pila (sandy plains).