Jigalong “I been do four clouds and four flowers” – Sheeniah Jones Jigalong Aboriginal Community, the largest of the Martu communities, is located on the western edge of the Little Sandy Desert, not far from the town of Newman. Jigalong was established in 1907 as the site for a maintenance Read more…
Untitled “Newman is going to be rainy for a couple of days. The storm from Port Hedland is coming to Newman.” – Akeelah Ashwin Tropical Cyclone Ilsa , the first in the Western Region for the 1999-2000 season, formed to the northeast of Cocos Islands on 11 December 1999. It was tracked Read more…
Untitled How did you get to this style of painting? “Do you mean, what have I done with my life? (chuckles to herself) To me these paintings are a sense of energy. So if I see someone and they’re happy, I paint a happy vibe. Cos their spirit is happy. Read more…
Untitled This work portrays an area known intimately 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 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…
Punmu “This area here is our Country. It’s our Country right here. We returned to our Country with a Toyota and a grader that made the road. A grader right up to here. Punmu is a good place. It’s a happy place to live. My spirit feels good living here. Read more…
Tuwa (sandhills) in Puntawarri “I do tuwa (sandhill) in my own style because that’s our Country. That’s a sandhill, that’s the Dreaming- the Jukurrpa. That’s our culture. They stay there and we go through the sandhills at Puntawarri in the car. We go first tuwa, then the second tuwa, looking Read more…
Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment) “That’s Kumpupirntily- Lake Disappointment. The cannibals live underneath the lake there. It’s a salt lake. That’s all the ladies sitting around the lake, sitting around the claypans in the lake. That’s our Country; mine and Yunkurra’s [Billy Atkins’] Country.” – Judith Anya Samson Kumpupirntily lies within Read more…
Minyipuru (Jakulyukulyu, Seven Sisters) The term Jukurrpa is often translated in English as the ‘dreaming’, or ‘dreamtime’. It refers generally to the period in which the world was created by ancestral beings, who assumed both human and nonhuman forms. These beings shaped what had been a formless landscape; creating waters, 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…