MR & MRS THOMAS - NGARLPULITJARA
MR & MRS THOMAS
NGARLPULITJARA, 2005
142 x 131 cm
acrylic on Belgian linen
REGION
Spinifex Homelands Tjuntjutjarra, WA
PROVENANCE
Spinifex Art Project, WA Cat No. C371
Flinders Lane Gallery, Vic Cat No. FG05616
Private Collection, Vic
accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Spinifex Arts Project
STORY
The lands of the Spinifex people in Western Australia extend to the border with South Australia and North of the Nullarbor Plain. The centre of their homeland is in the Great Victoria Desert, at Tjuntjunjarra, some 700 kilometres East of Kalgoorlie, perhaps the most remote community in Australia. To this day, a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle is in large part maintained.
In 1997, an art project was started in which Indigenous paintings became part of the title claim, which was recognised in 2000. Later, in 2001, Cooee Art Gallery held their first commercial art exhibition in Sydney, which was officially opened by former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and the Governor of NSW, Marie Bashir.
Mr and Mrs Thomas, both Spinifex elders, worked together to produce this painting. It shows the dramatic story of the country at Ngalkritjara, where they were both born. Ngalkritjara is a claypan surrounded by higher country. Here, water is always available by digging down into the soil.
The Dreaming relates that many small birds called Kunkilkaa lived in this area. Wati Kipara (Turkey Man) the cranky old man from the north who stole fire near Tjukula and headed for the sea at Eucla sweeps through Ngalkritjara, killing and eating all the Kunkilkaa (men women and children) with the stolen fire stick. He also ate Jarla (honey ants) and Juratja (from Eucalyptus leaf) here before moving off to the south. The site is Northwest of the Spinifex, past Kulyuru.
ARTIST PROFILE
