Provenance
Our Land Gallery, WA
Cooee Art Gallery, NSW
Private Collection, NSW
accompanied by an Our Land Gallery certificate of authenticity
Story
Rusty Peters began to painting on canvas in 1997 after a lifetime working on the cattle stations across the Kimberley and far north. His works are replete with detailed knowledge of the land and stories from Springvale Station and the neighbouring Moola Boola Station where he spent his youth. While recognisably part of the 'Warmun style', his works are intricate maps of his country and its dark caves and rivers.
In this painting Peters depicts country about 20 miles from Springvale. All around this region, witchetty grubs come out from the ground and make their home in the white trees. The Dreamtime story tells how, a long time ago, a strong wind blew the witchetty grubs into the water and they were washed upstream.
The artist relates:
'Pretty dangerous country around here – all that water and sink holes and sometimes that wind comes up just like in the Dreamtime. A man has to be careful – don't want to be like those witchetty grubs. Don't want to be washed away. All around here are Rock Pigeons – they're black and they come out at night time. They're different from the grey ones you know – they're around during the day. Everything in this part of the country is just different.'
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