Birriliburu (Pirrilipuru)- Miriam Atkins Birriliburu is Miriam’s family’s ngurra (home Country, camp), at the southern end of Martu Country and incorporating Wells 1 to 9 of the Canning Stock Route. Birriliburu lies at the intersection of the Little Sandy and Gibson Deserts of Western Australia, and is characterised largely by Read more…
Untitled “I was learning about painting from school and from watching Bamba’s [Corban Clause Williams] mob painting. Bamba is my little brother. I like a painting about Country, painting my grandfather’s Country- Kaalpa (Kalypa, Canning Stock Route Well 23). I also like to go hunting with my family.” – Robina Clause Robina is part 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…
Untitled This is Miriam’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 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…
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…
Seasons “My paintings are all about the seasons. The Country is always changing. One day you might see one kind of flower and the next day they are gone; they have given way to a new kind of flower. I see the Country in a different way. In my paintings Read more…
sea and land tucker Depicted in this work are traditional types of bush tucker, their habitats, and their related hunting and gathering methods. 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 Read more…
Milkarra Milkarra is a soak located just north of the eastern end of the Percival Lakes region in Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. This site lies within Ngarga’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her father, and was part of the area which she knew intimately and travelled extensively with her Read more…
Untitled This work portrays an area known to the artist, painted here 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 Read more…