CYNTHIA BURKE - BASKET
CYNTHIA BURKE
BASKET, 2017
15 x 16 x 5 cm
Tjanpi (wild harvested grass) and raffia
REGION
APY Lands, SA
PROVENANCE
Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Alice Springs, NT
Cooee Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW
STORY
Cynthia works for Ngaanyatjarra media as well as making punu, tjanpi and painting. She lives in Warakurna and has a rich history of varied art practice, making many different types of art in an expert and distinctive way. Her landscapes are topographical maps of her country. Cynthia is a finalist in the Raka Prize 2015 for her Tjanpi.
Tjanpi artists live and work in the 26 remote communities of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) lands, an area comparable to the size of Germany. The NPY lands cover approximately 350,000 square kms across the tri-state (WA, SA, NT) border region of Central Australia. Tjanpi employs two field officers to regularly travel to these communities and purchase artworks from the artists, supply art materials, hold skills development workshops and facilitate grass collecting trips. These trips also allow a number of other cultural maintenance activities to take place.
Baskets have been the most important forms for storing and carrying food and possessions among the essentially nomadic Australian Aboriginal people of the central Desert.
ARTIST PROFILE
