Spinifex Ascedent: Arwork from Tjuntjuntjara
Past exhibition
Women's Collaborative
Kungkaragkalpa
acrylic on linen
110 x 85 cm
834877
Two senior Spinifex women Estelle Hogan and Myrtle Pennington have collaborated on this work depicting their country deep within the Spinifex Lands. Estelle has painted the area where she was...
Two senior Spinifex women Estelle Hogan and Myrtle Pennington have collaborated on this work depicting their country deep within the Spinifex Lands. Estelle has painted the area where she was born centered on Paltatatjara. Paltatatjara is an important place for the Minyma Tjuta (Seven Sisters) story. She has depicted the women’s footprints as they travel to Paltatatjara where they are resting at the rock hole. As they walked across the desert they are being followed by wati kula kula a lustful old man) named Wati Nyiiru. He is after the older sister. Myrtle has focused on Mupulya and Kanpa where she was born. Mulpulya is where Myrtle's umbilical fell off as a baby therefore is greatly significant to Myrtle. Spinifex people are connected strongly to birthplace and the place where the umbilical cord comes off. At Kanpa there are two large rock holes with sand hills and salt country near Wilkapi and Tjawalpa (two soaks). A salt lake surrounded by stumpy trees and Mulpulya (large sand hill) can be seen. Myrtle and Estelle are respected senior women who have a deep connection to country and a wealth of cultural knowledge. Traditional knowledge of food collection and water places enabled them and their ancestors to survive in the beautiful but sometimes harsh environment and is a prominent theme in their work. This knowledge is handed down orally in the retelling of the Tjukurpa; songs and stories of the spirit beings that inhabit this land. As senior owners of places of special significance for both men and women, documentation and detail of the paintings is carefully defined and public interpretation involves a level of ‘assumed’ knowledge.