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 “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 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 Read more…
Kulyakartu Kulyakartu is a large area in the far north of the Martu homelands, near the Percival Lakes region of Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Kulyakartu is mostly flat grass Country, and is known as a good hunting area. In particular, parnajarrpa (goanna), wild cats, and lunki (witchetty grub) are Read more…
Untitled This is Yikartu’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…
Puntawarri “We drink water at Puntawarri. We clean and dig that waterhole. This Country is Puntawarri. My nanna, Dadda, taught me to paint this Country. Puntawarri is important because it is my pop’s, my nannas’ husband’s, place. They camped there and went hunting for goanna or anything, kangaroo or turkey. Read more…
Bush Medicine “I used to walk around Patjarr with my grandmother collecting bush medicine. We would grab the leaves, the roots, make a fire and boil it up in a big pot. Then we would put it in a little container, you rub it on when you are sick. Helps Read more…
Spears and boomerang Martu have been carving objects out of wood for as long as they have carved a life out of the desert. Kurlata (spears), woomera (spear throwers), pilpin (clubs), jurna (hitting sticks), jara (shields), karli (boomerangs), wana (digging-sticks), and piti (timber bowls used for carrying food and water) were the principal technologies of survival in the desert ecology. These tools were typically Read more…
Pirrkili Pirrkili is a rockhole surrounded in all directions by permanent tali (sandhills), located east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora) and south of Punmu Aboriginal community. Linyji (claypans) such as Pirrkili were traditionally visited more often during the wantajarra (wet season) when they were filled with water. This site lies within Read more…
yaralalu “This is my Country. My little brother was born here in pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) times. I was a big girl, no man yet. We were walking a long way.” – Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Nancy Chapman “When I was born my spirit appeared at Jarntinti. That’s my Country, Jarntinti. I Read more…