Stockroom25 of 546
Click to enlargeb. 1969
- Region
- APY Lands
- Community
- Amata
- Language group
- Pitjantjatjara
Seven Sisters, 2018
synthetic polymer paint on linen
152.5 x 122 cm
$8,000
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- Provenance
- Tjala Arts, Amata Community, SA, Cat No. 371-18 Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Waterloo, NSW Private Collection NSW, acquired from the above Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tjala Arts
- Artwork story
- Among all the Tjukurpa narratives carried by the women of the APY Lands, the Seven Sisters story is the most expansive: the pursuit of the Kunkarunkara women across the sky by the dangerous Nyiru, a narrative that moves between earth and sky, between the visible stars of the Pleiades and the Country below. The sisters are the constellation Pleiades; Nyiru is Orion. He transforms himself into kampurarrpa (bush tomatoes) and the ili (fig tree) to trap them through hunger or the need for shelter. The sisters, knowledgeable in his magic, go hungry and run through the night. Though Nyiru seizes the youngest, the oldest leads her back to safety, and the women fly into the sky, reforming the constellation beyond his reach. Tjungkara Ken was born in 1969 at Amata Community in the far northwest of South Australia. Her mother's Country is Walitjara, west of Amata; her father's Country is Amata itself. She began painting at Tjala Arts in 1997 and is well known for her sophisticated use of colour and her striking works depicting the Seven Sisters story. In 2017 she was an Archibald Prize finalist with a self-portrait titled Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming), and in 2021 was awarded the Roberts Family Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prize for her Seven Sisters entry in the Wynne Prize. Her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art