Ngurra (home Country, camp) “It’s their home for them, real ngurra (home Country, camp). Real ngurra is where they been born and grow up.” – Corban Clause Williams The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of 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…
Rabbit Proof Fence “I painted the Rabbit Proof Fence and the tracks of the emus. They can’t get through because the gate is closed. If they can’t get through they go back to the sand hills. We still see that Rabbit Proof Fence out there, it goes to Jilakurru then 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…
Bushfire 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 encourage Read more…
Puntawarri “All around is sandhills and lakes on every side. You can see the grass, but the lakes are all dry. In the middle is Puntawarri waterhole. That’s the jila (snake) place, two jila. They nyupa (spouses), they darlings, man and woman. They sleeping near to Puntawarri. It’s a hole 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…
Mum, The Boss, My Daughter and the Wanti (Woman, Girl) “It’s pretty much the line of thought of my family. So that’s my daughter and then my granny- ‘Nan Nan’ they call her- and then my mum, SW. And that’s my nanna Lorna. It’s pretty much the line of where Read more…
Mum, The Boss, My Daughter and the Wanti (Woman, Girl) “It’s pretty much the line of thought of my family. So that’s my daughter and then my granny- ‘Nan Nan’ they call her- and then my mum, SW. And that’s my nanna Lorna. It’s pretty much the line of where Read more…
Gunbarrel Highway – Pink Lake This work depicts a warla (lake) within the artists’ ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. As a reliable source of water in the often harsh and arid Martu lands, warla represented important sites not only for camping throughout the year, but also Read more…