Yatjiki Vicki Cullinan Australian, Yankunytjatjara / Pitjantjatjara, b. 1970
As a child Vicki received the skin name Yatjiki from her grandmother, the second eldest of six children she was born in Port Augusta but spent her childhood growing up surrounded by family and friends at the Indulkana community. As a young child Yatjiki and her large family all lived in a little tin shed, with her grandparents on her mothers’ side.
“There were only a few houses in the community when I was young, there used to be four little tin sheds in a row, one of the tin sheds belonged to my family, we used to make a small fire inside and drink hot tea. Back then there was a lot of water in the rock holes and there were tjukitjis (underground springs) in the ridge and around Mt Chandler – we were always outdoors playing and swimming. I’ve been painting at Iwantja for many years now, my paintings show the country and tell stories that I know, I often paint the story of the Seven Sisters – it’s special to me. When I’m painting, I think about how to make the painting strong, I don’t worry about other things at home or outside, it’s peaceful and I’m in a quiet place.”
Yatjiki Cullinan is a Yankunytjatjara woman from Indulkana on the APY Lands of the far north desert in South Australia. Her paintings are richly dotted and are evocative of the night sky. Vicki’s paintings are powerfully charged and dynamic, they truly capture what is to flourish with sovereignty in today’s remote indigenous communities.
Harnessing a vibrating and explosive energy, Yatjiki’s paintings are jewelled with repetitive layering of an explosive smattering of considered dots. Charged spaces are treated with lush colourings and heightened tones, illuminating a painterly beauty. The surface of the canvas becomes a complex landscape, lending to an overall equilibrium and poetic observations of awareness. These paintings depict the night sky as a reflection of what is living and flourishing in abundance below.
“At night in the desert, when I look at the night sky, I feel a strong calmness. The sky is the largest presence watching my country. It watches and holds close all our stories from a long time ago. It sees all the chaos, the beauty, the hard times, and the laughter. All of this energy is tangled together in the sky and reflected back on us at night – like a mirrors reflection. I lost my young daughter a few years ago, and when I feel the sadness coming to me, I look up at the stars and know there is something good above us, that my daughter is still with me, that there is a vibrant energy keeping me and all of us strong.”
Yatjiki (Vicki) Cullinan is a Yankunytjatjara woman from Indulkana Community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia. Yatjiki is a senior artist and cultural liaison officer at Iwantja Arts. A respected leader in her community, Yatjiki is a board member of a number of other community development and Indigenous arts support bodies and advocacy organisations.
Yatjiki has over 20 years of experience working as an artist at Iwantja arts. Primarily a painter, Yatjiki also has significant experience in printmaking, drawing and works on paper. In recent years Yatjiki has turned her attention to mentoring the next generation of artists in artistic skills development, cultural activities and strong governance.
Yatjiki Cullinan was the winner of the 2020 Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize.