Spinifex People Spinifex Lands by ReDot Fine Art Gallery

REDOT FINE ART GALLERY in collaboration with Spinifex Arts Project presents

Spinifex People Spinifex Land A Collection of Fine Spinifex Indigenous Art

18 July â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8 August 2018

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c o n t e m p o r a r y

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Back to Country Helicopter Trip, Collaborative Works in Progress Source: Â© Photo Courtesy of Spinifex Art & Paul Bulley

Various Spinifex Artists (COLLABORATIVE) Maru Munu Pirampa Acrylic on Linen 200 x 290cm 17-317

Nine Spinifex Men, Ned Grant, Fred Grant, Byron Brooks, Lawrence Pennington, Simon Hogan, Roy Underwood, Winmati Roberts, Lennard Walker and Ian Rictor have combined a shared experience of Country with this magnificent collaboration. With a reduced palette of contrasting black and white on a red ochre background the men have brought their respective depictions of Spinifex Country to life. Each artist has painted those sites which he has authority for through either birthright or paternal linage. Some Tjukurpa or creatition stories interconnect through great swathes of country and each man is intimately aware of the others presence in the country they depict and where they are placed within the painting. These are songlines, stories interwoven with song and dance that also map the physical manifestations of the first beings - those who shaped into existence, the very country the men paint. This is a complex relationship involving past and present with those who made the country still present today, residing at significant sites, keeping a watchful and powerful gaze upon daily proceedings. They are the ones who made the song and the moral compass that still guides people today.

Simon Hogan paint brushes Source: ÂŠ Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

Byron BROOKS Birth Date 1951 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Great Victoria Desert Skin/Clan Tjuntjuntjara

Byron was born between Tjawarr and Tjintirkara between a significant men’s , Wati Kutjara (Two Men) and women’s, Kungkarra (Seven Sisters) dreaming tracks adjacent to the SA border. Byron was transported to Cundeelee Mission via Kulkapin as a 10-12 year old boy. Although he was not part of the Elders group who orchestrated the return to country when Byron returned to Spinifex in the mid-1980s he immersed himself in to all things cultural as if making up for lost time. He started on the Men’s native title painting in 1997 and consistently painted thereafter collaboratively and individually.

Fred GRANT Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1943 Pitjantjatjara Ukatjatjara Pitjantjatjara

Fred Grant went through the Law with older brother and ngalungku (contemporary initiate), Ned Grant, in the ranges north of Laverton, after being brought in to the Cundeelee Mission. With his extraordinary knowledge of Spinifex Tjukurpa and its myriad of inherent songlines, Fred has taken on the role of director on most of the men’s collaboratives. Although his own works are locality specific, they give the impression of covering broad swathes of country, and could be interpreted as subtler versions of the Men’s Native Title Paintings in 1997. Fred’s wife, Carlene West, from Tjitjiti, is also a renowned painter of Spinifex Arts Project.

Ned GRANT Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1941 Pitjantjatjara Papatatjara Pitjantjatjara

Ned Grant went through the Law his brother, Fred Grant, in the ranges north of Laverton, after being brought in to the Cundeelee Mission. As a senior man in early 1980’s, he helped coordinate the return to Spinifex country and today, he is the main ceremonial leader of the Tjintu (sun side) of Spinifex society. Ned has been painting with the Spinifex Art Project since its beginning in 1997 and had worked on the inaugural Men’s Native Title Painting. Ned has not been a prolific individual painter but he has been an integral contributor to various men’s collaborative paintings.

Simon HOGAN Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1930 Pitjantjatjara Paltju Pitjantjatjara

An effusive individual who introduces himself as “Mr. Hogan”, Simon Hogan is a tireless ambassador for Spinifex custom and culture. Although he spoke no English, he is a confident, initiated Pitjantjatjara man who addressed senior government officials regarding ownership of country and culture. In 1997, when the Spinifex people began painting traditional stories with acrylic paints on canvas, Simon Hogan took the lead, working with intense concentration and focus to translate Tjukurpa into public artworks. Over the years, Simon Hogan’s enthusiasm and focus for painting has not diminished. His status as a painter in his own community and on a national and international level has steadily increased over these years making him one of the most soughtafter Spinifex artists.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1934 Pitjantjatjara Urlu Pitjantjatjara

Like his contemporaries, Lawrence Pennington was pulled in to the Cundeelee Mission in the late 1950s. His initiations as a young man in the country have given him intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence started painting with the Spinifex Arts Project in 1999, collaboratively and individually, before leaving Tjuntjuntjara for about 7 years. He has now returned on a permanent basis when his only son went through Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law at Tjuntjuntjara.

circa 1960 Pitjantjatjara Artulin / Tuwan Pitjantjatjara

Ian Rictor and his family emerged from the bush only in 1986, the last of the known Indigenous people to make first contact with contemporary Australia. In 1997, when the Spinifex Arts Project began, Ian Rictor was keen to join. He took to the medium of paint on canvas with fluency and has been painting his birthplace and surrounding country since then. He has had increasing success exhibiting with the Spinifex Artists internationally and in Australia. Ian is also a skilled hunter, bush mechanic and craftsman. He lives in Tjuntjuntjara with his wife Kathleen (Kanta) Donnegan, also an artist of Spinifex Arts Project.

Ian RICTOR Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

Winmati ROBERTS Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1958 Pitjantjatjara Umuwa Pitjantjatjara

Winmati Roberts is descended from a line of renowned artists. His mother, the late Wingu Tingima, was one of the best-known and respected painters and his father, the late Lima Tingima, was an inspirational figure in Winmati’s life, passing on his great knowledge of the country and Law to his son. As a young man, Winmati worked on the bore program, a project supporting Anangu’s desire to return to country. He also helped to establish the community of Nyapari where he lived for many years. Winmati paints the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa of Pukara, a story depicting two snakes, a father and son travelling across country during ceremonial time.

Roy UNDERWOOD Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1937 Pitjantjatjara Tjutajara Pitjantjatjara

With Kumanara Anderson and other senior men and women, Roy Underwood was a major driving force in returning the Spinifex people to their country and representing and negotiating the unbroken connection to country. Roy continues to be a venerated Elder and is routinely elected to Spinifex Land Council and Tjuntjuntjara Community Council. Roy has a unique painting style somewhat reminiscent of Kiwirkurra mens’ designs from Pintupi country and has influenced other artists with his bold and sometimes geometric designs. He is a strong force within the Spinifex Arts Project and a much sought-after painter.

Lennard WALKER Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1946 Pitjantjatjara Tjukaltjara / Kuru Ala Pitjantjatjara

Unlike most artists who were born in country, Lennard Walker moved out of Spinifex with his extended family to the Warburton Mission, established in 1934. He later married Ngalpinkga Simms, also an artist of Spinifex Arts Project and together they settled in Tjuntjuntjara. Lennard painted on the inaugural Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Native Title Painting in 1997. He has also worked on most menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collaboratives, joint works with other male painters and his wife Ngalpingka. In style and form, Lennard continues from where he began, a ruggedly strong and resolute painter - the image of his country.

Back to Country Helicopter Trip, Collaborative Works in Progress Source: Â© Photo Courtesy of Spinifex Art & Paul Bulley

Various Spinifex Artists (COLLABORATIVE) Kungkarangkalpa Acrylic on Linen 200 x 290cm 17-318

Ten Spinifex women, Tjaruwa Woods, Myrtle Pennington, Kanta Donnegan, Maureen Donnegan, Marilyn Walker, Betty Kennedy, Shonna Jaimeson, Ivy Laidlaw, Estelle Hogan and Ngalpingka Simms have collaborated in this major painting depicting Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters Creation Songline). This Creation story follows the movements of a group of sisters who traverse the country evading the clutches of a lustful older man known as Nyiru. Nyiru is pursuing the women to satisfy his desire for the eldest sister who he wishes to take for his wife. He is a sorcerer of sorts and can metamorphose into animals or plants and does this on several occasions in an attempt to capture the women but always they seem to narrowly escape. It is during these escapades that the landscape is created and formations left as ever present reminders of the power involved with creation beings. The women take a path north and eventually fly into the sky to become the Pleiades Constellation, one of the closest star clusters to earth. Although each women knows this major Tjukurpa, they are bound by cultural protocol and custodial responsibility as to which country they can depict. As the country and Tjukurpa unfolds during the creation of a major work like this, the women â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;sing the placeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; into reality. Traditional inma (singing and dancing) is triggered as the depictions of places, that the women may not have physically seen for many years, begin to manifest onto the canvas.

Back to Country Helicopter Trip, Collaborative Works in Progress Source: Â© Photo Courtesy of Spinifex Art & Paul Bulley

Kathleen (Kanta) DONNEGAN Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1944 Pitjantjatjara Kapi Piti Kutjara Pitjantjatjara

Kathleen (Kanta) Donnegan is married to Ian Rictor - her kuri pikitja, often translated as “promised one”. As if forged by the early years in her country, Kathleen is a gentle soul and has assiduously painted with the Spinifex Art Project since representing her country in the Women’s Native Title Painting in 1997. Kathleen has painted on most of the women’s collaboratives produced by the Spinifex women. Her works are succinct and economic but also fulsome without being over busy. In effect, they are patently honest portrayals of her country - an epitome of the artist herself.

Maureen DONNEGAN Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

14/02/1978 Pitjantjatjara Kalgoorlie Tjuntjuntjara

Maureen Donnegan was born in Kalgoorlie in 1978. Her mother Kanta Donnegan, travelled to Kalgoorlie from Tjuntjuntjara to give birth in the hospital. So although Maureen was born in Kalgoorlie her traditional Lands are actually some 900 kms to the north east in the Great Victoria Desert. Maureen works primarily at the Tjuntjuntjara Womens Centre where she assists with the aged care program. She loves to paint her country and is learning the Seven Sisters Tjukurpa from her mother.

Estelle HOGAN Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1937 Pitjantjatjara Paltjatjara Pitjantjatjara

Estelle Hogan is the wife of Simon Hogan. In Spinifex society, Estelle is regarded as “minyma pulka mulapa”, a truly important woman, as she is the mother of five sons who have entered into Men’s Law. Estelle also has a deep and extensive knowledge of her country and its connections to other women’s country through Women’s Tjukurpa. Since 1997, she has contributed to every women’s collaborative produced by Spinifex Arts. Like her personality, Estelle’s paintings are colourful and bold, often portraying the array of rockholes and soaks in the Seven Sisters Tjukurpa.

Shonna JAIMESON Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

13/07/1977 Pitjantjatjara Kalgoorlie Pitjantjatjara

Shonna Jaimeson is a Pitjantjatjara woman living in Tjuntjuntjara Community in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia. Her Tjukurpa is Papa, the wild dog songline a sacred and important story in this region

Betty KENNEDY Birth Date 26/2/54 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Great Victoria Desert Skin/Clan Pitjantjatjara

Betty Kennedy is a senior woman from Spinifex country in the Great Victoria Desert. Betty lived for a time at Cundeelee Mission, east of Kalgoorlie where she had her children. She later moved with her family to Tjuntjuntjara where she has spent much of her life. The Seven Sisters is a major Western Desert story and one that Betty usually paints.

Ivy LAIDLAW Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

1945 Ngaanyatjarra Walpapulka Ngaanyatjara

Ivy Laidlaw, a Ngaanyatjarra artist, was born around 1945 at a rockhole called Walpapulka (Mt. Aloysius) near Irrunytju. Ivy was a founding member of Irrunytju Arts and is a highly regarded sculpture, weaver and storyteller. Ivy is currently living in Tjuntjuntjara Community with her husband Patju Presley who is family to the Spinifex mob.

Myrtle PENNINGTON Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1939 Pitjantjatjara Kanpa Pitjantjatjara

Myrtle Pennington’s journey to Cundeelee Mission in the late 1950’s was particularly tragic - a son and her husband had perished during the trip. Myrtle, with another son and daughter, were eventually located by Australian servicemen and taken to the Cundeelee Mission. Even though Myrtle did not work on the Women’s Native Title Painting in 1997, she gradually came into the Spinifex Arts Project through the women’s collaborative works. She was mostly an occasional painter until the past decade when almost overnight she developed a most striking, minimal style with bold symbols that leap out against a vividly plain background.

Ngalpingka SIMMS Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1945 Ngaanyatjarra Wayiyul Ngaanyatjarra

Ngalpingka Simms spent her early days living a traditional lifestyle with her small family group and later moved into the Warburton Mission where many Ngaanyatjarra people settled. She spent many years at Warburton living a semi-nomadic lifestyle and participating in traditional ceremony. Now living at Tjuntjuntjara and married to Spinifex elder Lennard Walker, Ngalpingka paints with the Spinifex Arts Project. She has participated with the Spinifex Artists since 1998 and is a valuable and knowledgeable member of the group who paints her homeland area associated with the Minyma Tjuta (Seven Sisters) as well as collaborative paintings.

Marilyn WALKER Birth Date 1962 Language Pitjantjatjara Place of Birth Great Victoria Desert Skin/Clan Tjuntjuntjara

Marilyn Walker is a Pitjantjatjara woman from the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia. At the time of Marilyn’s birth in the 1960’s her family had moved away from their traditional country and relocated to Cundeelee Mission some 600 km away. Marilyn has very fond memories of life in the mission and it is the primary theme of her work. The old people, recently walked in from the bush still had all their traditional bush skills honed and taught Marilyn much about traditional foodmsources, medicines and life in the desert. She went back to her traditional lands in the 1980’s and works as a ranger for the Spinifex Land Management putting her knowledge of the country to good use.

Tjaruwa (Angelina) WOODS Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1954 Pitjantjatjara Warutjara Pitjantjatjara

Tjaruwa (Angelina) Woods lived traditionally until the winter of 1986 when her family of seven was located in northern Spinifex, last of the known Indigenous people to make first contact with contemporary Australia. When Tjaruwa settled in Tjuntjuntjara, her immediate priority was to care for her mother and uncle living in their new circumstances and it was not until her mother passed away that she took up an interest in painting. With the accumulated experience of her other life and her mother’s stories/ designs, Tjaruwa’s unique Spinifex perspective was translated with spectacular style and technique onto canvas.

Black and White Palette The night sky is a glittering light show in the Great Victoria Desert and you are the lucky viewer. It’s a star gazers feast with the dust of the Milky Way so clear you sometimes feel you can almost touch it. In a two-minute window I witnessed six shooting stars, some comet like, with their fiery tails burning bright as they enter the earth’s atmosphere before extinguishing. Lying back in a warm, comfy swag on the sand, looking up at the great expanse, one feels privileged to be here. We’re at Ilkurlka, a significant site in Spinifex Country 130km north of the community of Tjuntjuntjara where we’ve just recently driven three hours and over 110 sand dunes, fully loaded with people and supplies to get here. Everyone is camping at ‘Winter Camp’, a campsite nestled into the side of a long running east west sand hill that has showers, a toilet and also a sun protected basic ‘camp kitchen’. There are over sixty people camping here, all spread about in different structures from ‘2Man’ tents, to large canvas Spider Huts that have no floor but height enough for standing, then some makeshift ‘wiltja’s’ convex mesh with tarps or anything draped over, and finally for those that maybe can’t help star gazing, a swag next to a warm fire. Spinifex Arts Project is part of a much bigger picture here, supporting Spinifex People to

Bottom, from left to right: Night sky; Fred at Ilkurlka; Canvas Source: © Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

see significant sites in this 55,000 km2 Spinifex Country that are inaccessible by road and where with some, haven’t been seen since the people were very young and walking through this landscape, following Songlines with their families. There is a small helicopter taking people up and over terrain they know intimately, arms flinging in different directions as they pass along childhood memories from above. This is breathing life back into the vast landscape, letting the land know it has company, custodians, people that belong here, people that were born here. When Ned Grant returned after having landed and walked about his site of Papatatjara, he told me he had cried, overcome with emotion whilst there, so glad to be back in his home. Spinifex Land Management have organised this trip and a young Spinifex Ranger accompanies the ‘Traditional Owners’ on each flight, mapping the areas, documenting sites and species identification because parts of this 55,000 km2 Spinifex Land is subject to ‘wildfire’ if specific patch burning that was traditionally undertaken is not continued. The Rangers take their role seriously and are also the next generation that must continue the stories of the Country and chart where the boundaries of the Tjukurpa lay - what can be seen by whom. Where fire must not go. We’ve brought two large three metre primed and ready Belgium linens with us for the artists to paint and have set up a little distance away from the main camp. The linens have been primed a red ochre background, the colour of the sand out here and there is only black and white paint available. One is for the men, the other for the women and it is

the women who gather first and begin to discuss their way forward. The colour selection is through necessity as much as anything else, the men are used to this combination and the women are capable of adapting, remembering they paint a story no matter what the colour and with their first strokes, they have started marking out the ‘Seven Sisters’ or Minyma Tjuta Creation Story so familiar to them all. This is a ‘women’s’ Creation Line of epic proportions that crosses the desert and is full of mystery and intrigue as it follows a group of young women evading the clutches of a lustful older man with sorcerer like metamorphic powers. The Story is beginning. Tjuntjuntjara Remote Community school are here, teachers and young students partaking in the learning experience, gathering knowledge from the Elders as the trips bring remembered stories to the fore, like tales of distant Lands, only these tales are intricately intertwined with these young people and are very real and very close. The old people want the young ones to know, to embrace how the landscape was formed and understand their place amongst the Songlines. As night falls a large bonfire is lit and several senior men begin singing, rhythmically hitting the ground with sticks, bringing the night into focus, harnessing

From top to bottom, left to right: Ivy Laidlaw; Marilyn Walker; Kanta Donnegan; Estelle Hogan; Tjaruwa Woods; Maureen Donnegan and Shonna Jaimeson; Ngalpingka Simms Source: © Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

the Song. From behind bushes a man leads a group of young dancers, prepubescent boys, slowly into the firelight, performing the Kalaya Inma (Emu Creation Song), stamping their feet, kicking up dust. This is learning for all involved. These boys are the continuation of this song. It is the next day before the men are together to begin their painting. All present and accounted, they know

that each will leave at some stage to fly to their special sites but for now they will begin together, sharing the Country that they all inhabit and are born from, knowing they are part of the Creation, the landscape that was formed for them by the ones before. Roy Underwood begins first, as he has done so often before, with the immensely confident brush strokes outlining his snakes. These are the first beings, the ones that possessed great power and danger, those who you appeased if necessary but avoided if you could. They are the Men, the Wanampi (water serpent) and dangerous shape shifters all in one and are the creators of the Story, the landscape and the Law that is to be obeyed. When Roy paints life into these beings he is transferred into a real time of walking in the shadows of their song, watching as his peers performed the ceremonial necessities of their cultural existence and survival, learning how to move in a large world with limited resources but full of meaning. The other men join in now eager to bring their country into the light, to paint their part in the landscape, their special place. Most have multiple sites with different Tjukurpa and each man is acutely aware of the others presence on the painting and in which country they sit. All know the songs, the journey, the history and all are careful not to encroach on another’s story, another’s right to country, another’s place on the canvas. Diplomacy is evident, always. Today there’s a special flight taking shape. The Rictor family are returning to the country they most recently walked as a family. It was late 1986 when relatives already living in the small settlement of Yakaduna persuaded the ‘last of the nomads’ to ‘walk in’ after tracking their movements through Spinifex Country for some time prior. The parents and four young adults came into the settlement and one, Tjaruwa Woods, was holding a baby to her breast and this child was now also on this significant flight. With everyone watching, they hovered above the camp, blowing dust before maneuvering northwards towards their past, present and future. Meanwhile the Rangers have set off to take fuel and supplies to Tuwan, a site with water supply, accessible by road, in the north and

the base from where several Rictor family flights will take place throughout the day. At the end of day, the Rictor family returned to applause. They had flown to sites they easily recalled and passed on specific knowledge but culminating in the special place of Kulpinya, where they again sat inside the cave previously frequented by the group on their nomadic travels. Noli Rictor showed painted marks and pictures of camels he had etched with ochre as a young boy while staying in this cave. For Damien Rictor, who was the baby Tjaruwa was holding when first entering the community, here, he saw the place of his birth, the beginning. All returned with renewed vigor and stories of the life before and a determination to see this Country survive. With Ian Rictor back on ground now, he is determined to paint his sites, painting Tuwan, Kamanti and other places that took him in long before today. He too knows the importance of place, of song, of family and belonging. The other men continue to rhythmically tap the paint onto the canvas, creating a landscape that hopefully can be traversed by others, allowing access to the story. At night there is a mood of campfire light, of families sitting, talking, laughing. Pockets of stories being told. Knowledge being shared. Most of the senior people were able to be transported to sites but a few are now too frail or too stubborn and choose to keep their feet firmly on the ground. They hear the tales and are reminded of a time. They smell the greatness in the air, in the smoke of the Mulga and the laughter that surrounds. They feel the calm that comes with knowing, with belonging, with the sense of place.

Top, from left to right: Lennard Roy; Men Ian, Lennard Roy; xx; xx; xx Source: ÂŠ Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

A new day arrives, and more artists are keen to see their country. Fred Grant has been above and beyond today, visiting sites he frequented as a boy, remembering that which he never forgot, returning to stories that had no ending. His hand is strapped from a fall he had while climbing eagerly towards a rockhole he needed to touch, landing heavily but completing the task all the same. Fred is quickly becoming a young authority on all things Spinifex. At 70 years of age, he is one of the younger â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;old peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of Spinifex and is retaining his mental faculties as the older men slow with theirs. As the men and women continue painting, they are surrounded by others, by teachers, children, other staff, all watching, all learning, all listening. The artists are proud to share their Country, their stories, their language. This event, of getting people back to sites they never thought they would see again, is the catalyst for a journey of discovery by all participants, an opening of the shared stories that are told, of people being held by the very country that sustains them, a welcoming and non-discriminating Land.

From top to bottom, left to right: Ian and Noley Rictor; Fred Grant; Kids at ilkurlka; Lennard Hand; bush Turkey foot print; Canvas roll; Hand Source: ÂŠ Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

This is a story of visitors having a glimpse into another world, a different way, a different people, a new language on which to place meaning. For we are being given insight into this language that the artists speak, to find a way through their journey, to link it up with our own and move forward together. Maybe the black and white palette signifies a larger perspective, of opposites complementing, of creating more than the sum of its parts. What I do know though is, if I ever have the means, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to find another helicopter and continue this story. Brian Hallet Studio Manager, Spinifex Art Project

White Painting Stick used on Collaborative Canvas Source: ÂŠ Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

Various Spinifex Artists (COLLABORATIVE) Wati Tjutaku Inma Inkanyi Acrylic on Linen 196 x 279cm (6 panels) 17-311

The Men are Singing the Song. (6 individual panels) Six senior Spinifex artists move as one within a different sized and primed linen, shaping their own Country into the available area whilst aware of others doing the same nearby. The result is a majestic collaborative effort that sits together as a testament to the individual magic created. Each has depicted a portion of a much larger story, of a sweeping country with a multitude of sites that inter-connect within the Song, a landscape that echoes with characters and moral framework which live on in the daily lives of people today.

Byron BROOKS Wati Tjutaku Inma Inkanyi Acrylic on Linen 196 x 46.5cm 17-311a

Byron Brooks places large tracts of his country upon the canvas with marked ease, singing the song through the brush, surrounding the sites with multiple travel lines. Byron remembers the well-worn paths that he paints with the Minyma Tjuta Tjukurpa beginning for him at Pirapi and following as the story unfolds over multiple sites. He recreates the journey and the maps that live in the landscape as people traversed it.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Wati Tjutaku Inma Inkanyi Acrylic on Linen 196 x 46.5cm 17-311b

Lawrence Pennington touches the deepest qualities of the Tjukurpa in the unseen, the concealed, taking the broad brush to minimal resemblance of the characters that inhabited the first journey. He guides them effortlessly onto the canvas, channeling the essence of the significant sites from a time before when Lawrence walked the landscape within the Song. Here he brings forth Wati Kutjara or the Two Men, a father and son who traverse the Spinifex Country creating the landscape as they move through it and leaving the physical reminders of their power and presence.

Ian RICTOR Wati Tjutaku Inma Inkanyi Acrylic on Linen 196 x 46.5cm 17-311c

Ian Rictor sweeps the convex rock holes of his linage onto the canvas, filling the space with the landscape he knows intimately. Kamanti, Tuwan and Tjilutjipi come into being. He expands the area with traveling lines, Songlines, routes from where the significant sites were created and where the first beings still reside. These sites still wait for him, sitting quietly, whispering the Song that he walked long before today.

Ned GRANT Wati Tjutaku Inma Inkanyi Acrylic on Linen 196 x 46.5cm 17-311d

Ned Grant takes the canvas underground through â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Anpiriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the taproot at the base of the Ngalta (Desert Kurrajong) always turning, twisting the markings as he follows the paths to life affirming water sites. Ned weaves the story to Palpatatjara, his place of birth and that of the Nyii Nyii Tjukurpa (Zebra Finch Creation Line) a powerful Mens story that is highly secretive. These are the paths that the first beings travelled shaping the landscape as they went, bringing the physical into the daily reality for the Spinifex People allowing them the Story to follow.

Roy UNDERWOOD Wati Tjutaku Inma Inkanyi Acrylic on Linen 196 x 46.5cm 17-311e

Roy Underwood moves his magic onto the canvas using the brush like a magiciansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wand, marking the Country that will become the Story, bringing the Creation into the present. Roy and his ambidextrous deft hands allow Miramiratjara to surface, painting the Two Men Creation Journey as he paints the landscape, willing the beings to appear. Miramiratjara, is an especially significant site in the heart of traditional Spinifex Country that has huge bald sand hills protruding skyward and these can be seen from a great distance away like a swell breaking in the distance. It is one of the few sites in the Great Victoria Desert that has permanent fresh water and as such was traditionally peopled on a regular basis often with associated ceremony. Miramiratjara holds the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa or Two Men Creation Line, a powerful tragedy of greed and revenge that forms part of the moral compass that guides people on a daily basis. It is this continual presence of the Tjukurpa that transcends the daily life of Spinifex People and allows them to hold a sustaining existence with each other and the Country that surrounds

Simon HOGAN Wati Tjutaku Inma Inkanyi Acrylic on Linen 196 x 46.5cm 17-311f

Simon Hogan walks within the Story, allowing the significant site of Lingka to manifest upon the canvas, moving the Wanari (Mulga) tree to within reach of the precious waters that lay within. These trees signify the physical landscape that surround the Song and a symbol of the need for water by all things. Simon transcends the daily physical realm when painting the significant sites that still inhabit him and allow him to move through the landscape of the canvas.

Myrtle Pennington Sitting at a Painting Camp, with her Louis Vuitton Bag Source: Â© Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

Myrtle Pennington Source: Â© Photo Courtesy of Paul Bulley

Myrtle PENNINGTON Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1939 Pitjantjatjara Kanpa Pitjantjatjara

Myrtle was born c. 1939 in the vicinity of a rock hole called Kanpa in central Spinifex. The rock hole itself is a point along a highly sensitive senior Men’s tjukurpa which Myrtle would not have seen or drawn water from. Myrtle’s journey out of Spinifex to Cundeelee Mission in the late 1950’s was particularly tragic for Myrtle and her family (a son and husband perished on the trip). Myrtle, with another son and daughter, were eventually located by Australian servicemen from an army base at Neale’s Junction, who held them until Cundeelee Mission staff arrived to take the family to Cundeellee. The story of Myrtle’s flight from the British atomic testing range at Maralinga was to become key evidence tendered to Royal Commission into the British Nuclear Tests in Australia in 1984 and sadly Myrtle had to re-live the tragic events. Myrtle and her surviving son and daughter were awarded individual compensation from the Australian Government. Myrtle did not paint on the Women’s Native Title painting and gradually came into the Project through Women’s collaborative art. She was mostly an occasional painter until the past decade when almost overnight she developed a most striking, minimal style with bold symbols that leap out against a vividly plain background. Myrtle continues to paint regularly, seemingly unaffected by others styles evolving around her. Myrtle was a finalist (as part of the Women’s Collaborative), Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2009 at the Art Gallery of Western Australia Perth W.A.

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia. (Women’s Collaborative) British Museum, London, UK. (Women’s Collaborative) The Corrigan Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia. (Women’s Collaborative) Artbank Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia. W. & V. McGeoch Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Awards 2015 Finalist (Women’s Collaborative) - 32nd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award - Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2018 In Kürze: Pila Nguruku Kapi Walkatjara – Painted Waters of Spinifex Country, Artkelch, Skulpturenpark Wesenberg|Künstler Bei Wu, Wesenberg (near Berlin), Germany. Convoking the Genesis - Eurantica - Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium. Nguru Ninti – Knowing Country - Artkelch, Freiburg, Germany. 2017 Collector Spotlight – 2017 - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore. Wüste - Meer - Schöpfermythen - ArtKelch presented at The Rautenstrauch Joest Museum Cologne, Germany. Spinifex Arts 20th Anniversary - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle. WA, Australia. Gems from the remote Deserts’ - Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, at the Parcours des Mondes, Paris, France. Spinifex Ascendent - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia. 2016 Pila Nguratja – In Spinifex Country - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. DesertMob – Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. (collaboration with Estelle Hogan, Ngalpingka Simms and Kanta Donnegan) Rawa Nyinanyi – Unbroken - Outstation Gallery, Darwin. NT, Australia. Exposition Spinifex Arts Project - Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Bruxelles, Belgium.

2016 LORE The visual language of cultural Identity - Raft Artspace, Tasmania. Tjungutja – Art of the Spinifex Collaborative, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore. Purungu und Narrupa Sammlung, in association with P. & A. Klein and ArtKelch, Kunstwerk, Germany. 2015 Spinifex Arts Project 2015 - Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Tarnanthi - Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia. Wo das Stachelkopfgras wächst - ArtKelch, Freiburg, Germany. Kulunypa – selected small works from the Spinifex Arts Project - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. Indigenous Australia enduring civilisation - The British Museum, London, UK. 2014 Spinifex Artists - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA, Australia. Australian Contemporary Indigenous Art - Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art in association with Vivien Anderson Gallery, Santa Fe, USA. Spinifex Tjukurpa - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore. Spinifex Arts Project 2014 - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Tjuntjuntjara Nguratja – Tjuntjuntjara is home - Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, Idaho, USA. DesertMob - Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. (collaboration with Estelle Hogan) Tjuntjuntjara – Recent works from Spinifex Country - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia. Pila – Spinifex Land - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. 2013 Kuwaritja – New Works of the Spinifex People - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. Spinifex Arts Project - ArtKelch, Freiburg, Munich, Hamburg, Bodensee, Lake Constance, Germany. 2012 Tupun Nguranguru – People of the Sandhill Country - 45 Downstairs Gallery, Vivien Anderson, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Spinifex – People of the Sun and Shadow - John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia. 2010 Australian Contemporary Indigenous Art Now - Chiaroscuro Gallery, Santa Fe, USA in association with Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC Australia. (Women’s Collaborative) Desert Country - Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia. (with a National Tour.) 2005 Law and Land - Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art (AAMU), Utrecht, Netherlands. 2002 Putitja Nguru – Art of the Spinifex People - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

2001 2000

Flinders University Art Museum (FUAM), Adelaide, SA, Australia. All About Art - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Broken Hill City Regional Art Gallery, Broken Hill, NSW, Australia. Pila Nguru â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Art and Song of the Spinifex People - Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), Perth, WA, Australia. (with a National Tour.)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 225 x 300cm (15 panels) 17-263

The Spinifex People inhabited the Great Victoria Desert long before Europeans landed on this continents shoreline. They survived in an arid but beautiful environment, equipped with the necessary skills required for such a life. A spiritual people guided by cultural law were able to exist virtually unchallenged and unchanged until the 1950â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when the British atomic testing began at Emu Fields and later at Maralinga. These tests directly displaced the Spinifex People and it would be over thirty years before their traditional lands were finally returned to them in the form of native title and they were able to once again access the country that formed them from birth. For the landscape holds the culture of the Spinifex People and their daily interactions are governed by the moral compass of the first beings who created the physical realm. With story interwoven in song and dance, the country maps a tangible way forward for the people to reflect and learn upon. It is this country, this spiritual landscape that defines and permeates Myrtle Penningtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. Although abstract in appearance each piece holds part history, part ceremony and and part country. Myrtle assumes the vastness of the landscape imbued with the colourful light in profound yet simple compositions. She recalls the places that sustained her during those early formative years and gives rise to the sites of Mulpulya and Kanpa, surrounding them with sandhills and saltlakes or plains that lead to rocky escarpments. She reads the scene from a sense of belonging, of being interwoven into the fabric of the landscape she creates. All this Myrtle captures and conveys with ease, moving the brush and colour freely, building a textural quality that prompts one to walk with her through this vast Country.

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (1)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (2)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (3)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (4)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (5)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (6)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (7)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (8)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (9)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (10)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (11)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (12)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (13)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (14)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Murpulya and Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 17-263 (15)

Myrtle PENNINGTON Kanpa Acrylic on Linen 137 x 90cm 18-108

Lawrence Pennington Source: Â© Photo Courtesy of Amanda Dent - Spinifex Arts Project.

xxx Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

x x x x

xx.

Collections Lxs

Awards 2010 Tx

Lawrence Pennington with Completed Men’s Collaborative Painting (14004) Source: © Photo Courtesy of Amanda Dent - Spinifex Arts Project

Lawrence PENNINGTON Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1934 Pitjantjatjara Urlu Pitjantjatjara

At the time of Lawrence Pennington’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. He was born just outside of the north-eastern boundary of Spinifex at a place called Urlu circa 1934. Running through Lawrence’s stretch of country is the Walawuru (wedge-tailed eagle) Dreaming. Not surprisingly, the dominant topographical feature in Lawrence’s country is a string of craggy-topped breakaways. In parallel alignment off to the south run a series of thinly connected dry salt lakes and naturally underscoring these features reddish sand plains. Depending on the character of the light, Lawrence’s country can at different times appear hauntingly bleak or magnificently beautiful. Like his contemporaries, Lawrence was pulled in to Cundeelee Mission during the sweeps in the late 1950s. He came in a young Wati (initiated man), married late in Cundeelee and had one son. Lawrence painted in the early years, collaboratively and individually before leaving Tjuntjuntjara for about 7 years. He returned on a permanent basis when his son went through Men’s Law at Tjuntjuntjara.

Collections Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia. Harriett & Richard England Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, United States of America. Patrick Corrigan Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia. National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia. W. & V. McGeoch Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Wagner and Owen Collection, United States of America Hassall Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

The Arthur Roe Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Arnaud Serval Collection, Crans Montana, Switzerland. Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia. Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Awards 2016 Finalist (Men’s Collaborative) - 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2017 Lawrence Pennington - Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2016 Wati Wara – Lawrence Pennington Solo - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2018 35th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia. Beyond Dreaming: The Rise of Indigenous Australia in the USA - Kluge-Ruhe Museum of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. 2017 Wüste - Meer - Schöpfermythen - ArtKelch Gallery presented at The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne, Germany. Spinifex Arts 20th Anniversary - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle. WA, Australia. Gems from the remote Deserts - Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium, at the Parcours des Mondes, Paris, France. DesertMob - Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. Spinifex Ascendent - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia. Spinifex: Aboriginal Paintings from the Robert Kaplan and Margaret Levi Collection - Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada. USA. 2016 Pila Nguratja – In Spinifex Country - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia. Rawa Nyinanyi – Unbroken - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

2016 Exposition Spinifex Arts Project - Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium. Purungu und Narrupa Sammlung - in association with P. & A. Klein and ArtKelch, Kunstwerk, Germany. 2015 Spinifex Arts Project 2015 - Aboriginal & Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Tarnanthi – Festival of Comtemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia. Wo das Stachelkopfgras wächst – Art Kelch, Freiburg, Germany. Kulunypa – Selected small works from the Spinifex Arts Project - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. 2014 Spinifex Artists 2014 - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA, Australia. Spinifex Arts Project 2014 - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Tjuntjuntjara – recent works from Spinifex Country - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia. Spinifex Tjukurpa - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore. Pila – Spinifex Land - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. Spinifex Artists – Desert Mob Exhibition - Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. Tjuntjuntjara Nguratja – Tjuntjuntjara is home - Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, Idaho, USA. 2013 Spinifex Arts Project - Art Kelch, Freiburg, Munich, Hamburg, Bodensee, Lake Constance, Germany (Touring Exhibition). The Wild Ones - Raft Artplace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. Kuwaritja – New Works of the Spinifex People - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. Spinifex Artists – Desert Mob Exhibition - Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. Salon des Refusés - Outstation Gallery & Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. 2012 Tupun Nguranguru – People of the Sandhill Country - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Spinifex – People of the Sun and Shadow - John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia. 2005 Law and Land - Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art (AAMU), Utrecht, Netherlands. 2002 Putitja Nguru – Art of the Spinifex People - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA, Australia. 2001 Broken Hill City Regional Art Gallery, Broken Hill, NSW, Australia. All About Art - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Flinders Arts Museum, Adelaide, SA, Australia. 2000 Pila Nguru – Art and Song of the Spinifex People - Western Australian Museum, Perth, WA, Australia (Touring Exhibition).

Lawrence PENNINGTON Pukara Acrylic on Linen 137 x 140cm 18-29

Lawrence has depicted the significant site of Pukara, situated to the north of traditional Spinifex Lands and a major site of the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Men Creation Line). This is an epic that follows the movements of two men, a father and son who are also Wanampi (magical water serpents) on initiation business as they traverse the Spinifex Lands. These two men are creation beings and as such move and shape the landscape to manifest their presence within it. Leaving behind the physical and moral reminders of their power and their flaws that Anangu are still guided by today.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Mituna Acrylic on Linen 137 x 110cm 18-27

The Pukara Tjukurpa is an epic songline, which traverses across much of the Spinifex Lands. The father and son wanampi (water serpent men) are travelling, creating large tracts of country as they go. The father is getting concerned as his son has a wild uncontrollable and unpredictable temperament, which as his power grows through the initiation ceremony is getting harder to manage. This painting shows the men at Mituna a rock hole not far from Pukara. It is here that Lawrence was born and as such has custodial responsibilities for this site.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Mituna Acrylic on Linen 137 x 110cm 17-253

Lawrence is a senior Spinifex man who has painted the country where he was born and some of the significant sites in the surrounding area in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia. Growing up as a young boy and then following his initiations as a young man in this country Lawrence holds an intimate knowledge of the sites, the stories and the features. Here he includes the rock holes from his country, the larger ones are Mituna and Pukara. Numerous smaller rock holes are also depicted along with the travelling tracks and indication of Tjukurpa. He has drawn in symbolic reference to the formations left behind in the landscape from the antics as these creation beings travel through the country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Nyuman Acrylic on Linen 90 x 137cm 18-26

This is Nyuman a sacred place in the north of the Spinifex claim area. Here holds the Tjukurpa (creation story) for the Walawuru Eagle Man, symbolised by the large trees at the site where the eagles nest. The Two Men from Pukura also pass through here symbolised by the lines. This is a father and son wanampi (water serpents) travelling from Pukara to many sites in this region. The circles represent small rockholes where the water can be found.

Lawrence PENNINGTON Mituna Acrylic on Linen 137 x 90cm 18-28

Lawrence, a senior lawman from Spinifex has painted his country of Mitutu, the place of his birth. As with many Spinifex “Tjukurpa” places are linked through story and geography. In this case Mitutu is clearly linked to a well known Western Desert area called Pukara. Pukara is a site in which two large snakes, a father and son are travelling on initiation business. The places Lawrence paints are often sacred or have sacred aspects to them and as such details are sketchy. Lawrence has mentioned certain elements of story associated with particular water places. One such character is Ngarultji the Wati Lungkutja (the blue tongue lizard man) who is travelling to Pukara. He also mentions an ancestral being “Murtja” who expired at this place after seeing the snakes at Pukara involved in a spear fight. The sites painted here include along with Mituna and Pukara; Kukulywa, Mukurara and Malaputa, The trees are kurku, mulga trees and the roots are depicted reaching into water below the surface.

Lake BakerÂ Timo Hogan thinks he was twelve or thirteen when he was last at Lake Baker. His father would take him up from Mount Margaret Mission during school holidays and they would stay at the nearby homeland of Yapuparra with relatives and visit Lake Baker on day trips, always hunting game on the way. For reasons unknown, Timo never went there again but held a distinct paternal connection and a wish to one day return to the country that shaped him as a child. Timo only depicted Lake Baker in his paintings and as his painting career began to grow a special trip was planned from Spinifex Arts Project for Timo to visit his frail father, who was a resident in Wanarn Aged Care on the Ngaanyatjarra Lands and to once again explore the site of Lake Baker (with his father if possible). And so on a warm May Day, we set off from Tjuntjuntjara Community on a 2000km journey to find the place behind the painting and for Timo to talk with his father.

When we arrived at Wanarn Aged Care the next day Timo was feeling positive. He had spoken at length the previous evening by the campfire, about the last time he had seen his father. It was nearly two years ago at the same Aged Care facility and his father was in good spirits. They had talked and laughed, and Timo said he had left that visit with a feeling he would return before too long. But today, even with Timo’s positive prompts, his father, Neville MacArthur was immobilised by his own frailty. He was confined to his bed, seemingly unable to fully comprehend the presence of Timo in the room. Timo spoke at length with Neville and we Face -Time’d with others back at Tjuntjuntjara but there was minimal response from the old man as he drifted in and out of presence with virtually no movement. It seemed his death was coming. We left there with Timo very sad at the realisation he would probably not see his father alive again and through the grief he attempted to apportion blame on the Aged Care Facility and the tablets Neville was receiving but it was just a distraction from his sadness. We bought supplies from the community store and drove south west to Warburton, through long periods of silence, both of us thinking about the incredibly frail man we’d just seen but for Timo the implications were far greater. When we finally turned onto the Connie Sue Hwy, a track that departs Warburton directly south and where Lake Baker hides, Timo began to talk about his future, explaining that he would ‘talk up’ for Lake Baker, now that his father couldn’t speak for the place. And as the track wandered deeper south, the country expanded, opening up into great undulating panoramas with distant treeless bluffs. There were large rolling sand ridges that the road would dip between, before traversing high upon rocky ridges where one couldn’t quite take in, the vast expanse on all sides. Timo pointed south and said, “My Country now”. Not that it wasn’t ever ‘his country’ but I realised the personal implications of the cultural transfer through paternal lines, for him. With his father incapacitated and unable to make decisions for the special site of Lake Baker, Timo was becoming aware of the ramifications for himself. I could sense him growing in stature as he took ownership and responsibility, for what will ultimately be the decision making of a portion of country that now, culturally belongs to him. And that this will be recognised, at any meeting, where a decision concerning that piece of country, needs to be made. We turned off the small track that was the Connie Sue and onto an even smaller, rougher and at times barely visible trail that led us ever so slowly downwards to a bouldered dry creek crossing before ascending and opening into a majestic valley circled by red rocky Bush Trip by Timo HOGAN to Lake Baker Source: © Photo Courtesy of Brian Hallett - Spinifex Arts Project.

bluffs. This seemed like the ultimate paradise with the lowering sun hitting the rock and vividly illuminating the escarpments. It felt all the more powerful as we were the only vehicle that had travelled this section of track for a long time. No visible signs that anyone had been through here could be found and the grass was the highest Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d ever seen, coming up over the bonnet of the vehicle. I feared the next fire that would one day sweep through the valley as the natural dry burning fuel was everywhere. Timo said we were approaching an outstation and although it was obscured by growth, we did see the broken windmill from a distance, before entering an open site with an abandoned long ago look and metal debris scattered about the two small metal clad buildings within it. Timo excitedly leapt from the vehicle with me following behind. He was unfazed by the obvious dilapidation surrounding him and was suddenly transferred back to childhood. He began describing the place as it had been when he last saw it some thirty years ago. Shaking his head occasionally to bring his memories into order, he pointed at the large line of river gums in the distance and described a rope swing that, as children, they would use to jump into the nearby waterhole, staring and smiling as he retrieved the memory. We walked the perimeter of the outstation with Timo bringing to life the broken scene in front of us, making it full of people, with children playing, a pleasant and harmonious place, a great place to be a child. He showed me a bent and broken small rusted green metal box attached to a steel pole between the buildings and described talking on the two-way radio to people at Warburton. The vision was beautiful. There was conflicting joy and sadness as he took it all in and saw his past life before him. And with eyes welling he turned and said we should leave as we could not camp there. The sun was setting as we drove slowly further west through large tracks of overgrown grasslands following the line of the creek but once darkness fell, it was hard to see any vista. Timo wanted to push on, always a little further, a little closer to what was becoming the elusive Lake Baker. I realised his father would have had to be remarkably healthy to attempt what was now a long and tiring journey, though he may have been energised with the same sense of enthusiasm for the place as Timo was expressing. After driving too far into the night, with tired eyes we set up camp at what seemed to be a high point, but we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know for sure in the dark. We lit a fire and Timo was animated by the proximity to Lake Baker, almost sniffing it on the breeze that had sprung up, looking off into the dark distance. There was definitely something in the air at that camp, but I was exhausted after a long day of emotional travel and crawled into my swag shortly Bush Trip by Timo HOGAN to Lake Baker Source: ÂŠ Photo Courtesy of Brian Hallett - Spinifex Arts Project.

after the evening hot drink and drifted in and out of light sleep while trying to avoid the campfire smoke and the chilling wind. It was at some time after, exactly when I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say, that Timo began to talk forcefully and anxiously in language into the moonless night. Without looking I knew he was sitting up in his swag but I stayed sheltered from the wind under blankets whilst sensing everything that was happening. He was talking to a being or beings that inhabit Lake Baker, to those

that were part of the creation, who shaped the lake and made the surrounding landscape and who as Timo sees, still reside here. He was appeasing them, these beings of power and authority, telling them that he was family that he meant no harm, that he was his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son and he was responsible for looking after this country now, this home. The wind blew discernibly stronger. I began to feel an answering from the surrounds and tucked myself further under as Timo continued to talk almost conversationally, intermittently and now more calmly. I listened on for a time, till the wind began to slow and I fell into deep sleep.

When I awoke in the morning, I saw where we were camped. High upon a previously burnt plateau with distant views to what I sensed was the south. The sun had yet to rise and it felt bleak with the cold morning chill and the scorched earth, so I quickly reignited the coals from last night’s fire and got the morning coffee boiling. Timo was sound asleep on his back with a relaxed outstretched arm protruding from under his blankets making him look, if not for the rhythmic snoring, like a man unconscious. I remembered his talking from last night and felt my skin tingle as I looked around the landscape. I knew not to readily dismiss the events even though they seemed far from my humble suburban upbringing and I had had previous experience of Anangu, and seemingly, ‘other dimensions’. Over the years, people had often spoke of ‘feather feet’ in communities, of beings from the Tjukurpa creeping around at night, watching you as you slept, leaving no footprints. Sometimes these beings had been seen in houses, had looked at individuals, even spoken in a dreamlike state. They were feared by their ability to transcend through the realms. If one was to believe one had to accept that Anangu, through their cultural spirituality, may tap into a place that we cannot begin to comprehend, a fourth dimension where our perception would have to be altered so far that our present minds couldn’t cope. So, we retreat to the safety of dismissal, doubt or condescension. I was keeping an, open, as I could, mind. Breakfast was almost cooked by the time Timo woke but he was awake in an instant, ready for food and coffee. He spoke of the being that visited him in the night, a giant papa (dog), pointing to a large tree nearby as a size comparison. Boom! He slapped both his hands on the end of his swag and told how the dog had awoken him. He said he had to pacify him, explain who he was and why he was here before the giant dog eventually left. Timo seemed even more culturally invigorated by the fact the dog had come to him in the night. He was keen to set off for Lake Baker that was presumably...’close up’. The track descended soon after starting out and Timo made circular motions with his hand, “Going down, going down” he said. But it was some slow travelling time before the country once again opened up and we almost stumbled upon the salt lake. We had had no view of it before we were upon it even though we had come from high above. Timo motioned away from the lake and said “Ngura. Wanampiku ngura” meaning this was the home of the water serpent who still resides here. We pulled the vehicle closer to the lake and got out, Timo was talking in language, full of awe and smiling. He pointed to two Bush Trip by Timo HOGAN to Lake Baker Source: © Photo Courtesy of Brian Hallett - Spinifex Arts Project.

trees skirting the edge of the lake and said they were Wati Kutjara or the Two Men that he had spoken about before. Then gesturing toward the lake, there also was Wati Kutjara in the form of two small grassed tussocks or islands. He was walking on air as he moved swiftly to the edge and looked out, taking in the great expanse, “really big one” he said as his arm swept in the view. He was talking as he remembered, as all his father had told him came through to his present awareness. It was like watching the unlocking of a series of doors with memory contained behind each. He pointed to the direction where the Two Men had originally come from and the great swales, left by them in the earth. It made a picture of epic proportions, of creation beings shaping the environment they became part of, translating their movements into the landscape. Timo spoke of the blind water serpent who still resides in the rockhole further into the lake. Who departs from his abode each day in search of food, who can’t see but has a power in smell, who must be appeased by a ritual of washing under ones’ arms.

This was a narrative of prophetic proportions involving characters who created the moral framework for people to live by. This is the ultimate oral creationist history that has survived for thousands of years. The energy radiating from Timo was tangible. The transference of knowledge and ownership seemed complete and as he turned back to car he looked at me and said “Lake Baker. I’m the boss now”.

Brian Hallett Spinifex Arts Project

Timo HOGAN Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

2 May 1973 Kalgoorlie Pitjantjatjara Pitjantjatjara

Timo grew up with stories of life in the Spinifex Lands. His mother and family dug themselves into the sand dunes to try to avoid the smoke from the Maralinga atomic bomb. Before he was born she walked to a location close to Tjuntjuntjara and found a pile of tin meat left by the patrol officer. A white man came and picked all the people up in an old Landrover and drove them into Cundeelee Mission. Later his mother was driven from Cundeelee to the old hospital in Kalgoorlie for Timo’s birth in 1973. After his birth his mother succumbed to the lure of alcohol in Kalgoorlie and struggled to look after a new baby properly. Timo’s father came and took him to Mt Margret. He spent his formative years here with his father, Neville McCarthur and his stepmother Alkawari. They lived at Mt Margaret until Timo was about 14 when the family moved to Warburton, closer to his father’s traditional lands. Alkawari did not speak Pitjantjatjara or Ngaanyatjarra as she was from a different Aboriginal tribe but spoke in English to Timo and he is now fluent in all three languages. Once back in country Timo’s father took him to all the culturally significant places. He wanted to introduce him to the country, to the spirit caretakers and teach him the law. “My father took me to Lake Baker, all around, rockhole and all. I know all these places but I can’t show them. Millmillpa (dangerously sacred). I’m taking over this country now, as my father is getting old. I’m the only son and people say we are like twins, my father and me. We look the same. I know how to use spears – he taught me everything.” Timo went through Men’s Business initiation at Warburton. The group travelled down to Tjuntjuntjara on the business run. “My father’s really a Spinifex Man. His brothers are Hogan and Jamieson”. After going through business Timo settled in Tjuntjuntjara and lived with his mother. His father visited regularly before he got too old to make the long journey. For a brief period in the 2000’s Timo lived at Kalka as his mother married a man from there. He did his first canvas, a painting of the Lake Baker with Ninuku Artists in 2004. After a long break of nearly 10 years he has started painting again. Painting his country, the vast salt lake, the place he now has cultural obligations to look after. A place of

power and danger. “I’ve rediscovered my love for painting. I do painting all the time now. I’m painting my country Lake Baker”.

Awards 2017 Finalist - Port Hedland Art Awards

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2018 In Kürze: Pila Nguruku Kapi Walkatjara - Painted Waters of Spinifex Country - Artkelch, SkulpturenparkWesenberg| Künstler Bei Wu, Wesenberg (near Berlin) Germany. 2017 Wüste - Meer - Schöpfermythen - ArtKelch Gallery presented at The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne, Germany. Spinifex Arts 20th Anniversary - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle. WA, Australia. 2016 Pila Nguratja - In Spinifex Country - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Rawa Nyinanyi- Unbroken - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia. Revealed Emerging Aboriginal Artists of WA, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, WA, Australia. 2013 Kuwaritja – New Works of the Spinifex People - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Timo HOGAN Lake Baker Acrylic on Linen 137 x 140cm 17-125

Timo has depicted Lake Baker a significant site situated to the northwest of the traditional Spinifex Lands on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia. He shares custodial responsibilities with his father for this place. It is a large salt pan that holds the important Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (the Two Serpent Men Tjukurpa) and involves two ancestral beings who shape the landscape as they move through it. At Lake Baker one man resides in the rock hole as a wanampi (water serpent) while the other is some distance off. The wanampi was sleeping underground in the lake before he rises up and out through the rock hole and travels through country. The rock hole at Lake Baker is dangerous and is a â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Men Onlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; site where certain ceremonial protocols must be observed. Timo talks of a bathing ritual that must be performed to appease the Wanampi before one can continue through the nearby country. Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Timo HOGAN Lake Baker Acrylic on Linen 137 x 110cm 17-256

Timo HOGAN Lake Baker Acrylic on Linen 110 x 137cm 17-308

Timo HOGAN Lake Baker Acrylic on Linen 110 x 137cm 18-25

Timo HOGAN Lake Baker Acrylic on Linen 90 x 137cm 17-227

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