Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

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Status: Stock

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Jakayu Biljabu – Silk Scarf

In this work, Jakayu Biljabu transports the viewer into the desert Country traversed by seven sisters as they are chased by a lustful old man.

The epic Minyipuru Jukurrpa (Seven Sisters Story) follows the travels of seven sisters as they are chased across the desert of Martu Country by an amorous old man named Yurla.

Yurla followed the sisters from Roebourne on the coast of Western Australia. At one point in the story, Yurla snatches one of the women, but her sisters trick him and manage to rescue her. Eventually they escape into the sky, taking the form of the seven stars comprising the Pleiades constellation.

67 X 133CM 12MM 100% SILK SATIN WITH HAND ROLLED EDGES.

ALL OF OUR SCARES COME IN A BEAUTIFUL GIFTBOX AND INCLUDE AN ARTIST’S CARD, DETAILING THE ARTIST’S WORK AND PRACTICE.

 

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Status: Stock

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Jakayu Biljabu – Silk Scarf

The electrifying work Parnngurr Area relates to the landscape surrounding the Martu community of Parnngurr in the Eastern Pilbara. Significant sites Yalpu, Wangkakarlu, Parnkurrl and Kurran Kurran are depicted – water sources that were crucial to the survival of Biljabu and her family during pujiman. Biljabu’s family travelled from place to place depending on the availability of food and water at these sites, and to fulfil social and ritual obligations.

The epic Minyipuru Jukurrpa (Seven Sisters Story) follows the travels of an amorous old man named Yurla as he chases seven sisters across the desert of Martu Country. The yellow arc-like shapes in this work represent the sisters dancing near Parnngurr.

Yurla followed the sisters from Roebourne on the coast of Western Australia. At one point in the story, Yurla snatches one of the women, but her sisters trick him and manage to rescue her. Eventually they escape into the sky, taking the form of the seven stars comprising the Pleiades constellation.

87cm x 125cm 14mm 100% silk satin with hand rolled edges.

ALL OF OUR SCARES COME IN A BEAUTIFUL GIFTBOX AND INCLUDE AN ARTIST’S CARD, DETAILING THE ARTIST’S WORK AND PRACTICE.

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Puntawarri Country

“This is Puntawarri country. That Nyiyaparli creek, Kupayiyura (Savory Creek), coming into putijarra country. Kupayiyura goes to kumpupirntily (Lake Disappointment). All the jurnu (soakwaters0 are along the side of the creek: how many… 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,191,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30! Big mob. Ngayurnangalku (cannibal beings) travelled through this country going to Kumpupirntily. They got weapons- tjara (sheild), yirlilli (boomerang), kara (spear) and jurna (club) – they leave them on ground where they camp. They make that country . That country got everything-pangarra (goanna), karlaya (emu), dog,kangaroo all there. And Ngayurnanglaku… they’re there too.”

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Untitled

This is Mayiwalku’s Country- her ‘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. 

Mayiwalku’s ngurra encompasses the Country that she and her family walked in the pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) era. Mayiwalku was born at Yirnangarri. She grew up, walked and hunted primarily around the Country extending across the Punmu, Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33) and Karlamilyi (Rudall River) regions. Following the death of both their parents, Mayiwalku and her sisters travelled alone between Punmu and Kunawarritji, occasionally meeting with other family groups. They continued to live nomadically before eventually deciding to move to Jigalong Mission along with many other relatives following an extreme and prolonged drought in the 1960s. 

Portrayed in this work are features of Mayiwalku’s ngurra, such as the dominant permanent red tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and the individually named water sources she and her family camped at. These include Januwa, Jilankujarra, Karlajarntu, Kartungu, Kularti, Kumpupajanu, Kunalimpi, Kunarra, Marnakarti, Pangkapirni, Wilunganinya, Wurur-wururna, Yilyara, and Yirrajarra 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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Coongan Waters

“This is that place where the water stops and has pools in the dry season.  You can see that gold across there and the gemstones, all gemstones, these ones next to the gold, and this is the coongan marble, you know how it’s named marble bar? Thats the marble there, down at Coongan. This is like the stones…the garnets, and the other ones which we havn’t got a name. This is that part of the coongan, when it doesnt run and it’s got pools.”

– Joan Lever

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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Dhott Works

“One man asked me to do an Aboriginal painting for a friend that was getting married in Canada. That’s when I started what I call my ‘Dhott works’  (chuckles). I just wanted to give it a bit of an air.”

– Joan Lever

 

Martumili Artists work with over three hundred artists from remote Martu Aboriginal communities, including Punmu, Parnngurr, Kunawarritji, Jigalong, Irrungadji (Nullagine), and Warralong, as well as from the Parnpajinya (Newman) gallery and studio spaces. Known for their diverse, energetic, and unmediated painting styles, their works reflect the dramatic geography and scale of their homelands. Each artist, however, brings a unique approach to their craft.

Younger Martu artists often start painting alongside their parents, grandparents, and extended family, which fosters an organic learning process. This not only involves mastering painting techniques but also understanding specific locations, family histories, traditional ways of life, bush tucker, and Jukurrpa (Dreaming). Over time, with encouragement from their peers, they develop their own distinct styles and explore unique painting techniques and subject matter. In this work the artist brings a contemporary, evolving perspective to their work.

 

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Dhott Works

“One man asked me to do an Aboriginal painting for a friend that was getting married in Canada. That’s when I started what I call my ‘Dhott works’  (chuckles). I just wanted to give it a bit of an air.”

– Joan Lever

 

Martumili Artists work with over three hundred artists from remote Martu Aboriginal communities, including Punmu, Parnngurr, Kunawarritji, Jigalong, Irrungadji (Nullagine), and Warralong, as well as from the Parnpajinya (Newman) gallery and studio spaces. Known for their diverse, energetic, and unmediated painting styles, their works reflect the dramatic geography and scale of their homelands. Each artist, however, brings a unique approach to their craft.

Younger Martu artists often start painting alongside their parents, grandparents, and extended family, which fosters an organic learning process. This not only involves mastering painting techniques but also understanding specific locations, family histories, traditional ways of life, bush tucker, and Jukurrpa (Dreaming). Over time, with encouragement from their peers, they develop their own distinct styles and explore unique painting techniques and subject matter. In this work the artist brings a contemporary, evolving perspective to their work.

 

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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 closest town to Warralong Aboriginal community, where Mary lives with her family.

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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 closest town to Warralong Aboriginal community, where Mary lives with her family.

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Untitled

This is Mayiwalku’s Country- her ‘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. 

Mayiwalku’s ngurra encompasses the Country that she and her family walked in the pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) era. Mayiwalku was born at Yirnangarri. She grew up, walked and hunted primarily around the Country extending across the Punmu, Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33) and Karlamilyi (Rudall River) regions. Following the death of both their parents, Mayiwalku and her sisters travelled alone between Punmu and Kunawarritji, occasionally meeting with other family groups. They continued to live nomadically before eventually deciding to move to Jigalong Mission along with many other relatives following an extreme and prolonged drought in the 1960s. 

Portrayed in this work are features of Mayiwalku’s ngurra, such as the dominant permanent red tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and the individually named water sources she and her family camped at. These include Januwa, Jilankujarra, Karlajarntu, Kartungu, Kularti, Kumpupajanu, Kunalimpi, Kunarra, Marnakarti, Pangkapirni, Wilunganinya, Wurur-wururna, Yilyara, and Yirrajarra 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.