PULPURRU DAVIES - UNTITLED
PULPURRU DAVIES
UNTITLED, 2007
76 x 76 cm
acrylic on linen
REGION
Warakurna, WA
PROVENANCE
Kayili Artists, NT Cat No. 07-155Deutcher & Hackett
Private Collection, Vic
Art Leven, NSW
STORY
Pulpurru grew up living a traditional, nomadic way of life with her family as they moved from waterhole to waterhole in their traditional country. They lived this way up until the 1960s, by which time they were one of the last groups of nomadic people in Australia.
This painting depicts a small part of the Wati Kutjara (Two Men) Dreaming myth which takes place at Nyukur, a site with two rockholes west of Mina Mina. Two women are confronted by the Wati Kutjarra who want to see what they are carrying. The women hide their special possessions underneath them as they sit down. The men travel on towards Lake Kulutjarra where they find mingkurlpa (bush tobacco) before heading back towards Mulayaritjan and see the women again. They watch them cry and sing. One of them has lost her special dog which is white like Pintalypa (bush tomato before it is ripe). She is wailing for her dog and singing to her female companion: "Where are we going to look, where can he be?" as they walk this way and that, in circles looking.
ARTIST PROFILE
