We Belong To This Country, We Look After This Country: ARTWORKS FROM ALICE SPRINGS TOWN CAMPS
Past exhibition
Betty Conway Australian, Pintupi / Luritja, b. 1952
After Rain at Running Water, Illari Creek, 2020
acrylic on linen
66 x 152.5
841245
'This is me and family camping out at Illari Creek, other [northern] side [Tempe Downs Station Homestead is to the south]. That creek takes you all the way up to...
'This is me and family camping out at Illari Creek, other [northern] side [Tempe Downs Station Homestead is to the south]. That creek takes you all the way up to Utju [Areyonga Community].
This one, this is good spot for sleeping. It's only one good spot. There are a few there, but I like this one. When we take all the kids, we sleep this side [meaning on the southern side of the range] sometimes, but the waterhole here is not too deep.
Feral horse there - too many - all drink from the creek. Crows in sky looking down, watching for scraps.
At night-time we always sing out to dingoes from the camp and dingoes come. We always put our scraps from cooking in the same spot. We watch the stars, waiting to sleep at night, and we watch the dingoes eating all the scraps. For years and years, we always do same thing. Dingoes always come there, once we are laying down. They are there at night. Gone in morning. They don't bother us, and we don't bother them. This is my country - Tempe Downs, where I was born.'
This one, this is good spot for sleeping. It's only one good spot. There are a few there, but I like this one. When we take all the kids, we sleep this side [meaning on the southern side of the range] sometimes, but the waterhole here is not too deep.
Feral horse there - too many - all drink from the creek. Crows in sky looking down, watching for scraps.
At night-time we always sing out to dingoes from the camp and dingoes come. We always put our scraps from cooking in the same spot. We watch the stars, waiting to sleep at night, and we watch the dingoes eating all the scraps. For years and years, we always do same thing. Dingoes always come there, once we are laying down. They are there at night. Gone in morning. They don't bother us, and we don't bother them. This is my country - Tempe Downs, where I was born.'