Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Untitled This painting depict’s Milkarra, the artist’s grandfather’s country. Milkarra is close to Warla Warla, also known as Well 31 on the Canning Stock Route.   

Untitled This painting portrays physical elements of Martu Country, such as the dominant tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and water sources. Rock holes, waterholes, soaks and springs were all extremely important sites for Martu people during the pujiman (nomadic bush) era, with many important jukurrpa (dreamtime stories) chronicling the creation Read more…

Punmu waterholes “Punmu, I went there when I was a young girl, a teenager with my mother and father before my mother passed. Big mob of people was there. No building, just little cubby houses [bough shelters]. Long time I been there.  These here are the waterholes around Punmu; Rawa Read more…

Untitled This painting portrays physical elements of Martu Country, such as the dominant tali (sandhills), warta (trees, vegetation), and water sources. Rock holes, waterholes, soaks and springs were all extremely important sites for Martu people during the pujiman (nomadic bush) era, with many important jukurrpa (dreamtime stories) chronicling the creation Read more…

Long Pool 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, Read more…

Pitu (Separation Well) “Ngurra me, my ngurra (this is my Country, my home). Mummy mili Pitu and Kulilu (My mother’s home Country is around the permanent springs of Pitu and Kulilu). I been born [at] Pitu. Two mummy, one daddy born there too there. Two yinta (permanent springs) [can be Read more…

Untitled This painting is a collaborative work between Ivy Bidu and her partner Leon Cutter. They often collaborate on their paintings in the Newman Martumili studio. Ivy learnt painting from Ngamarru (Bidu) her older sister and aunty Jakayu (Biljabu) giving her some ideas of painting country. Leon learnt to paint Read more…

Untitled This painting is a collaborative work between Ivy Bidu and her partner Leon Cutter. They often collaborate on their paintings in the Newman Martumili studio. Ivy learnt painting from Ngamarru (Bidu) her older sister and aunty Jakayu (Biljabu) giving her some ideas of painting country. Leon learnt to paint Read more…

Untitled This painting portrays part of the artist’s country where her and her family lived traditionally during the pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) days. During this time, Martu people lived nomadically moving from water source to water source hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. Primarily the artist’s family would travel up and 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…