RENE KULITJA - KUNGKARANGKALPA - SEVEN SISTERS
RENE KULITJA
KUNGKARANGKALPA - SEVEN SISTERS, 2020
30 x 60 cm
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas
REGION
Ernabella, NT
PROVENANCE
Maruku Arts, NT
Cooee Art Leven, NSW
STORY
Paintings depict the Tjukurpa, the Law and stories of Ancestors. Anangu (Central and Western Desert Aboriginal people) have responsibilities for
the protection and teaching of different Tjukurpa and there are strict protocols for the imparting of knowledge. The dotting technique has
evolved with the need to adapt sacred expressions of Tjukurpa for public viewing and as a depiction of the desert landscape.
Kungkarangkalpa is the Tjukurpa of the Seven Sisters, concerning a group of women being pursued by a cunning man called Nyiru who attempts
to lure them into marriage with him. He disguises himself in countless ways to trick the sisters, and is sometimes also invisible in paintings. In
their escape the sisters travelled through a vast amount of Australia. They stopped to camp, build shelters and hunt for food, thus forming
many features of the landscape and embedding the knowledge of survival in it. Eventually they fled into the sky where they became the
constellation known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Nyiru still follows them ceaselessly across the night sky as one of the bright stars in the
constellation of Orion.
ARTIST PROFILE
