rawa tjunguku - working together a long time

New major works from Spinifex Arts Project

rawa tjunguku - working together a long time

New major works from Spinifex Arts Project

Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by VARIOUS SPINIFEX ARTISTS (COLLABORATIVE) of Spinifex Artists. The title is Pila Nguru. [22-1] (Acrylic on Linen) Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by VARIOUS SPINIFEX ARTISTS (COLLABORATIVE) of Spinifex Artists. The title is Pila Nguru. [22-1] (Acrylic on Linen)
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VARIOUS SPINIFEX ARTISTS (COLLABORATIVE)

Pila Nguru
22-1 (2022)
Acrylic on Linen
 Pila Nguru | 22-1
Acrylic on Linen
 200 x 230cm | 78.74 x 90.55in
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As the walpa pulka (big winds) have passed after winter and the desert heats up toward the end of year, great dry thunderstorms circle in isolation like a rolling symphony of bass drums. People say this is the call to wake for all of the sleeping reptiles- letting them know there is heat enough for coming out from their winter hibernation. But soon after this, the warm rains come and what was once dry and parched becomes lush and alive with new growth. The desert is transformed into a lush summer oasis of vibrant hues of green and differing colour against a red sand backdrop that illuminates the Spinifex Lands even more. 

From this desert palette is drawn a collaborative depiction of a land always teeming with life - both seen and unseen.

Ned Grant, ever present in his country, weaves his way through the Ngalta (desert kurrajong) to his significant site of Palpatatjara that holds the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Men Creation Line). Nearby with his brother, Fred Grant who depicts the same Two Men as they traverse his site of Tjaltunya to the east, following the well worn paths of Fred’s upbringing as he walked in their footsteps.

Lawrence Pennington brings the Walawuru Tjukurpa (Eagle Creation Line) into view as it rests at his birth site of Nyuman in the north of Spinifex Country with free flowing brushwork that mimics the very landscape he depicts. Meanwhile Simon Hogan is ever present at Lingka where Walawuru Tjukurpa follows the journey. It is here that Simon depicts with spiritual zest, the wanari (mulga) that surrounds and flourishes at the significant site. Each artists depicts a fragment of a much larger picture, of a journey made by the first beings who etched their movements into the landscape as they journeyed through. Leaving a moral compass intertwined within the environment that could be harnessed through song and dance. 

This is Spinifex Country.

As the walpa pulka (big winds) have passed after winter and the desert heats up toward the end of year, great dry thunderstorms circle in isolation like a rolling symphony of bass drums. People say this is the call to wake for all of the sleeping reptiles- letting them know there is heat enough for coming out from their winter hibernation. But soon after this, the warm rains come and what was once dry and parched becomes lush and alive with new growth. The desert is transformed into a lush summer...