WANAMPI TJUKURPA / PILTATI LEAH BRADY
“This story tells of two snake brothers and their wives, who are sisters, that lived near Piltati, west of Amata. Every day the women went out hunting, and every evening they bought home kuka (meat for cooking) for the men, who didn’t do anything but perform ceremonies. After a while the sisters became annoyed at the men’s laziness and decided to eat all the food they caught, leaving the men to fend for themselves. The snake brothers were angry, and decided to punish the women for their insubordination. After lots of talking, the brothers agreed to change themselves into a Wanampi (a giant mythical water serpent, which also had the power to travel above and below ground) and play a practical joke upon the women. They went to a marsupial rat hole where the women had been digging and imitated the tracks of a large snake by rubbing the back of a spear thrower on the ground. Then they entered the hole, and one of them left out enough of his tail for the women to see. The younger sister became very excited when she saw the tracks of such a large snake and its tail popping out. She begun to pull the snake from its burrow, but the tail kept slipping from her grasp. Again and again he let himself be caught before wriggling free once more. Eventually the younger sister became tired, gave up and returned to her sister. In evening, when they were eating dinner, the younger sister told her elder sister how she had almost caught a carpet snake as big as a Wanampi, but couldn’t pull it from its burrow as it was too strong. The big sister said she would help her to catch it the next day. The next morning the women set off with their wana (digging sticks) and piti (large wooden bowl). They dug all day long, then the next day and the next, occasionally glimpsing the snake. They continued to dig after the Wanampi, but they never caught him. In their pursuit the women dug a trench from Aparatjara to Piltati, now a watercourse, approximately 25km long.
Their burrow became deeper, and the women dug many subsidiary branches in their pursuit, creating the gorge at Piltati, with its creeks and piles of rock that clutter the valley floor. Finally the elder sister changed her tactics. She dug a pit ahead of the entrance to the burrow (now the largest rock hole at Piltati), uncovering the Wanampi before he could get away, then she threw her digging stick, piercing the side of the Wanampi. The younger Wanampi left the burrow, chased and swallowed his wife, the younger sister. The injured snake (big brother) was angry and in great pain, so he caught, killed and ate the elder sister at the mouth of Piltati gorge.”
The APY Art Centre Collective is a social enterprise made up of 11 Aboriginal owned and governed arts and culture organisations from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. As a collective, these organisations work to increase income for Aboriginal artists and support the important work of art centres in APY communities. This artwork was made at the APY Art Centre Collective operated APY Studio in Adelaide, which provides APY artists with a satellite art centre for artists off ‘Country’. The APY Studio affords APY artists with income stability alongside culturally appropriate support to access healthcare and the opportunity to maintain vital cultural and community connections when in Adelaide.
© Copyright for the artwork remains with the artist. © Copyright for the text remains with APY Art Centre Collective Adelaide.
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APY Art Centre Collective cat. 380-23
acrylic on linen
WANAMPI TJUKURPA / PILTATI 2023
APY Art Centre Collective cat. 312-23
acrylic on linen
195 x 154 cm
WANAMPI TJUKURPA / PILTATI 2022
APY Art Centre Collective cat. 532-22AS
acrylic on linen
300 x 200 cm
WANAMPI TJUKURPA / PILTATI 2022
APY Art Centre Collective cat. 654-22AS
acrylic on linen
199 x 200 cm
APY Art Centre Collective cat. 22-23AS
acrylic on linen
200 x 168 cm
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APY Art Centre Collective cat. 21-23AS
acrylic on linen
167 x 200 cm
APY Art Centre Collective cat. 51-23AS
acrylic on linen
196 x 196 cm
WANAMPI TJUKURPA / PILTATI 2023
APY Art Centre Collective cat. 97-23AS
acrylic on linen
208 x 180 cm
APY Art Centre Collective cat. 218-23AS
acrylic on linen
120 x 200 cm
LEAH BRADY
Born: 1962
Community: Amata, SA
Language: Pitjantjatjara
Leah Brady was born in Pukatja in 1962. She moved to Amata Community where she went to school and became bilingual in Pitjantjatjara and English. She was also married here and raised her kids in the Amata Community. Leah’s family has been involved in cultural tourism initiatives in the APY Lands, and she comes from a line of important regional leaders - her mother being a founding Director of NPY Women’s Council. Leah is committed to her painting practice at the APY and holds a leadership role in the APY Adelaide studio, she has been a driver for this initiative, lobbing government for several years in order to progress her plans.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Sydney Contemporary, APY Art Centre Collective
2022 APY Gallery, Sydney Uwankaraku Inmaku Pakala- Everybody Dance
2022 APY Gallery Melbourne Art Fair
2021 APY Gallery, Adelaide Ngayulu Kulinu Ngayuku Kami-Ku Inma (I hear my Grandmothers song)
2021 APY Gallery, Adelaide Uwankara - All of Us
2020 Musee des Beaux-Arts (Museum of Fine Arts), Brittany France Kulata Tjuta
2020 APY Gallery, Adelaide Watarkurinytja Wiya – Don’t Forget
2019 APY Gallery, Adelaide Nganampa Waltja Tjungu
2019 APY Gallery, Adelaide Tjintu Kuwaritja / A New Day
COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of New South Wales Australia France Foundation
AWARDS
2021 Finalist, Wynne Prize, AGNSW
2020 Finalist, Telstra NATSIAA
2020 Finalist, Wynne Prize, AGNSW
Acknowledgements:
Leah Brady, Jane Llewellyn, Skye O’Meara, and Zaachariaha Fielding
Scott Livesey Galleries acknowledges the First Nations People and we pay our respect to their Elders - past, present and future. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.
Scott Livesey, Susie Bowie & Sophie Foley
© copyright 2023
