Tali, Tuwa (Sandhills) The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and Read more…
Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora) “I see this place all the time when I go out to Punmu community. I take my brothers out hunting here. This painting shows the story about the Warnman people, when they were walking from kakarra (east) traveling yulparirra (south), long time ago. They were Read more…
Meeting Place “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 Read more…
Kunawarritji Rockholes “These are the rockholes around Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33). My mum [Jugarda Dulcie Gibbs] painted the same. It’s my father’s Country; he was born at Well 33. I’m painting Well 35, Kinyu, all the way to Well 38, Wajaparni. This is a big place for us. Read more…
Waru (fire) This work depicts the practice of fire burning as it continues to be used today through the Martu homelands. Over thousands of years, as Martu travelled and hunted on foot they would burn tracts of land, using waru (fire) as a means to assist with hunting and to Read more…
Untitled This work portrays an area known intimately to the artist, painted here in exquisite 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), Read more…
It’s my mum’s painting “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 Read more…
Punmu Kapi (Water) Punmu is an Aboriginal community located 670km North-East of Newman, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Created during the return to Country movement of the 1980s, with the recognition of Martu land rights and native title, the community was named after a nearby jukurrpa (dreamtime) story. Punmu community 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…
Kulyakartu This painting depicts Kulyakartu, Derrick’s ancestral ngurra (home Country, camp). Kulyakartu is located in the far north of the Martu homelands, near the Percival Lakes region of Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Kulyakartu is mostly grass Country where there is very good hunting. In particular parnajarrpa (goanna), wild cats, Read more…