Amunturrngu (Mount Liebig, Amunturrungu, Watiyawanu, New Bore)
Language group
Pitjantjatjara
Untitled
synthetic polymer paint on canvas board
40.6 x 40.6 cm
$3,000
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Provenance
Watiyawanu Artists, Mount Liebig, NT
Private Collection NT
Artwork story
Bill Whiskey's paintings were the first to depict the major Cockatoo Dreaming story and the creation of important sites throughout the country of his birth (Pirupa Alka near the Olgas - Kata Tjuta and Ayers Rock - Uluru), and are imbued with authority and steeped in traditional knowledge.
During the battle between the Cockatoo and the Crow, white feathers were scattered about and the landscape became indented by the entangled combatants crashing to the ground repeatedly. Subterranean streams filled these impressions with water and a circular amphitheatre was created by the sweep of wings. Today, a large, glowing white rock signifies the fallen cockatoo, still sipping the life-giving water from the sacred pools.
In Whiskey's emblematic works, blues, yellows, and reds, are tempered by cockatoo-white, representing the wildflowers that grow in profusion after rain. In keeping with the depiction of Dreaming stories throughout the Western Desert, the mythic and numinous is inherent within the sacred geography.