JOCELYN VENITA WOODS - MINYMA KUTJARA
JOCELYN VENITA WOODS
MINYMA KUTJARA, 2020
101 x 151 cm
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgian Linen
REGION
Kanpi, APY
PROVENANCE
APY Art Centre Collective, SA/NT
Cooee Art Leven, NSW
STORY
Minmya Kutjara. This is my father’s country close uo to Irruntytju. The two sisters were travelling through this country. This story tells how two sisters travelled north together. The big sister was taking the little sister to meet her family for the first time. She had been raised by others and did not want to leave them. They walked and walked and walked, stopping to do inma (sacred dancing and singing), to hunt and to sleep. They stopped at Ilkuwaratjara and cut a digging stick. That punu wood was very straight. The little sister was frightened and crying and the big sister told her stories and gave her a piggy-back to try and placate her. The journey is sometimes sung by women as they paint. Nuanced, multi-layered, and especially important for the women, some aspects of the story are only told in whispers. The places where the sisters travelled and rested can be traced through the desert, their actions often created landmarks. Near Irrunytju the sisters sat on two hills and made their hair belts in preparations for important women’s business. They threw their wana (digging stick) creating the rockhole here.
ARTIST PROFILE
