Artiste : Ngamaru Bidu (1949)

Titre de l'œuvre : Wantili

Format : 300 x 125 cm

Provenance et certificat : centre d'art aborigène de Martumili

Référence de cette peinture : 19-953

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Explications pour cette œuvre :

"My ngurra (home Country), Wantili area. [Points to linear forms] Sandhill, sandhill, sandhill everywhere. Claypan there, in the middle. Good place for swimming and drinking, for hunting little kangaroo. When no water [we would] go to Well, when there rain we stay there at Wantili. Everywhere, we been walking everywhere.

Near to Wantili [there’s a] road going Kayili (North). Long time [ago] only horses and ca􀀂le [travelled along that road], going Meekatharra and back in the cold time, gone right up to Jijai Bore. Half way, when he see water at Wantili, that mob would camp one night, bullock eating all the grass and mens drinking water. One Martu been working with that mob, droving bullock. Everytime he been give us meat, all the pujiman (nomadic bush dwellers)."

Wantili is dominated by claypans surrounded by tuwa (sandhills). Following rain the claypans are filled with water, with the overflow from nearby waterholes flowing to Wantili. At that time, Wantili becomes an important place for obtaining fresh water for drinking and bathing. Wantili is significant for the fact that at this site Kartujarra, Manyjilyjarra, Putujarra and Warnman people would all come together for ceremonies. Many jiwa (stones used by women for grinding seeds) from these times can still be found there today.

Wantili is an incredibly important cultural site, ‘‘where the creation started.’ The jukurrpa related to the creation at Wantili are just for Martu, but the site is open and anyone can go there. Wantili is one of the many sites featured in the epic Minyipuru (Seven Sisters) jukurrpa (dreamtime) narrative. The story follows the movement of seven sisters travelling all the way across the desert, beginning at Roebourne on the coast of Western Australia, as they are pursued by a lustful old man, Yurla. As the women travel they stop to rest at many sites to eat, dance, rest and sing, on the way leaving behind an assortment of articles that become formations in the land. The Seven Sisters rested at Wantili before throwing seeds, then continuing their journey on to Tiwa, Juntujuntu, and then onward to Pangkapini, where they finally escaped Yurla by flying into the sky to become the Pleaides constellation of stars.

Martumili Artists was established in late 2006 and supports Martu artists in Kunawarritji, Punmu, Parnngurr, Jigalong, Warralong, Irrungadji (Nullagine) and Parnpajinya (Newman). Many Martu artists have close relationships with established artists amongst Yulparija, Kukatja and other Western Desert peoples and are now gaining recognition in their own right for their diverse, energetic and unmediated painting styles. Their works reflect the dramatic geography and scale of their homelands in the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia. Martumili Artists represents speakers of Manyjilyjarra, Warnman, Kartujarra, Putijarra and Martu Wangka languages, many of whom experienced first contact with Europeans in the 1960s. The artists include painters, working in acrylics and oils, as well as weavers coiling baskets and sculptors working in wood, grass and wool. Martu artists proudly maintain their creative practices whilst pursuing social and cultural obligations across the Martu homelands.