TOMMY MAY NGARRALJA - KURTAL
TOMMY MAY NGARRALJA
KURTAL, 2018
60 x 60 cm
acrylic on perspex
REGION
Fitzroy Crossing, WA
PROVENANCE
Mangkaja, Fitzroy Crossing, WA
Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, NT
Cooee Art Leven, NSW
STORY
Tommy May was a Wangkajunga and Walmajarri man who was born at Yarrnkurnja on the Canning Stock Route in the Great Sandy Desert. He danced and sung Kurtal, a ceremony relating to the main jila [permanent waterhole] in his country.
According to the artist, ‘This is a story about Dreamtime people before Canning. Before whitefella come with a camel, Dreamtime people were there. These two blokes, Kurtal and Kaningarra, they been looking after the two waterholes, cleaning all the time.’
EXHIBITED
Perspective of Country, January 2019, Cooee Art Paddington
A Cooee Christmas | Next Gen 2021, December 2021, Cooee Art | Redfern
ARTIST PROFILE
