RAFT KATJARRA Catalogue

RAFT in conjunction with Tjarlirli Art present

NGAMURRU K AT J A R R A B U T L E R

“ I am the python from Korrmangkutja, I am in the land, that python is and came from Tjukurrpa (creation), we are all one.�

Hearing the voice of my grandmother Katjarra as she speaks of her Countr y has always been an ineffable experience.

Cover Por trait: Nyssa Miller.

19-1370. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 147cm. 2019

When she speaks, her stories embody thousands of years of histor y through their poetic nature and imager y. The feeling I get is one that has been cultivated by a lifetime of listening , watching and learning from Elders talking about Countr y and kurralka, or the early days.

19-251. Ngamurra/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 147 x 147 cm. 2019

For many Anangu, the early days are a generation or more into the past. Contemporar y society buzzes around us but when you sit down and listen to the Elders talk about Tjukurrpa, you come to a halt. You’re reminded of a time before shopping centres, hospitals, or cars.

19-1369. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 147cm. 2019

18-184. Ngamurra/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 178 x 295cm. 2018

A time that today is seen as ‘traditional’, whereas to my family it was simply the way of life.

My grandmother often tells me a stor y of when she travelled close to Mantar ti, a place near Kintore. Her an d her family were travelling through when, for their first time, they saw a vehicle approaching.

19-261. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

They hid behind a rocky outcrop but were soon found by a Tracker named Nosepeg . He told my grandmother and her family to jump into a tr uck and travel to Papunya with him, where there were many resources as at that time a drought forced many wester n deser t people into settlements.

19-265. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas. 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

My grandmother tells me she could only just see the trees as they flew past and that tree branches rattled as the truck hit them on their way through. It was like jumping in a time machine from kurralka to the 1960’s.

My

grandmoth er

lived

in

Papunya

for

approximately fifteen years before moving to Docker River until Tjukurla outstation was established in 1981.

19-1364. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

Inspired by the famous art movement Papunya Tula and her partner Anatjari Tjakamarra III, who was quite renowned, my grandmother developed her own style and forged a path of her own. Each brush stroke embossed on canvas is a place she has histor y with and a relationship to. These are not just locations, but places that make one belong through a deeply spiritual and emotional connection.

19-249. Ngamurra/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

These places hold Tjukurrpa, knowledge, histor y and spirituality. She is a keeper of memor y, connecting so many in our community to their identity, Countr y and where they fit within our cultural societal context. My grandmother is a walking archive.In this exhibition, Katjarra’s work features a visual narrative from her home countr y, Ngamarru.

19-250. Ngamurra/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

There are some waterholes at Ngamar r u, though if there isn’t regular rainfall the water dries up. Ngamar r u holds strong cultural significance for my grandmother, as it was created from th e T ingar ri people during the Tjukur rpa. The T ingar ri across many language groups

throughout

the

wester n

deser t,

su ch a s Ngaanyatjarra and Pitjantjarra, are significant Tjukur rpa beings.

19-259. Ngamurra/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

Through their travels during the Tjukur rpa, they brought to people a way of life and created the totemic landscape before finally turning to stone. Although Katjarra is the Python

from

Kor r mangutja,

Anangu

in

this par t of the countr y are forever par t of the T ingar ri, either through themselves or the people they have descended from.

19-264. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

At Ngamarru a group of T ingarri women wait as they collect and eat a bush tucker wanpurru, they are all of the Nangala kin group. As they wait another group of T ingarri women of the Nangala and Nungarrayi kin travel past towards the north. The group of Nangala then leave to the east to Papuun and Ngartarn.

19-1399. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

W ith bold colo urs and broad, energetic br ush strokes, my grandmother continues to preser ve her culture and identity. She captures Ngamur r u.

Winston Green.

2020

19-260. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm. 2019

Por trait: Tjarlirli Ar ts

19-242. Ngamurra/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 101.5cm. 2019

19-241. Ngamurra/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 101.5cm. 2019

19-268. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 101.5cm. 2019

19-1356. Ngamurru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 101.5cm. 2019

19-269. Ngamarru/Katjarra. Acrylic on canvas, 101.5 x 76cm. 2019

Por trait: Nyssa Miller.

NGAMURRU - Katja rra Butler, 17 J uly - 8 August 2020

8 HELE CRESCENT ALICE SPRINGS NT 0872.

T 0428 410 811 E art@raftartspace.com.au W www.raftartspace.com.au