Ngayuku Ngura (My Country), 2019

synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

182 x 144 cm; 184.5 x 147 cm (framed)

Est. $22,000 – $26,000

Provenance: Tjala Arts, Amata, SA, Cat No. 393-19 Olsen Gallery, Sydney, NSW D'lan Contemporary, Vic, INV-BURW-0001 Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art), First Nations Fine Art Auction, Sydney, NSW, 12 November 2024, Lot 8 Private Collection, Vic Accompanied by certificate of authenticity from Tjala Arts
Exhibited: Manta Nganampa Tjukurpa Pulkatjara – Stories from Our Land, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, 27 May – 20 June 2020 Reverence 2022, D'lan Contemporary, Melbourne, Vic, 27 October – 3 December 2022
Artwork story: As Burton said of her father's country: "A long time ago, when we were little children, we ran around Puta Puta and Ilitjata, our grandfather's and father's ground, and because of this we grew up strong. Why? Because it's Anangu country. Aboriginal people's country. Of their spirit." Ngayuku Ngura — My Country — is the title Burton returned to across her career, and this painting tells the story of that country near Pipalyatjara, west of Amata, at the meeting of the South Australian, Western Australian and Northern Territory borders. The subject is minyma mingkiri tjuta, the small female desert mice of important cultural sites. The mingkiri are pregnant and give birth to many babies, who journey to the surrounding rock holes in search of food and water for their young. The dotted lines are their tracks. The composition radiates outward from a dense central field in coral, orange and lavender, the mice rendered as small concentric ovals, their branching tracks extending in every direction across the surface. The scale is colossal relative to the woman who made it, yet the dotted lines hold a lightness of touch throughout. Burton was born around 1928 at Pipalyatjara and grew up living a nomadic life on her father's country. A senior Pitjantjatjara woman of law and a revered Ngangkari, she came to painting at Tjala Arts in 2008, having previously worked in tjanpi grass baskets and punu wood carvings. She was selected as a finalist in the Wynne Prize seven times and received the inaugural Roberts Family Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prize in 2018. Her work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

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Sale 3 · Lot 15

Wawiriya Burton

c.1925–1928 – 2021

Region: APY Lands
Community: Amata
Language group: Pitjantjatjara

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country), 2019

synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

182 x 144 cm; 184.5 x 147 cm (framed)

Est. $22,000 – $26,000

Provenance: Tjala Arts, Amata, SA, Cat No. 393-19 Olsen Gallery, Sydney, NSW D'lan Contemporary, Vic, INV-BURW-0001 Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art), First Nations Fine Art Auction, Sydney, NSW, 12 November 2024, Lot 8 Private Collection, Vic Accompanied by certificate of authenticity from Tjala Arts
Exhibited: Manta Nganampa Tjukurpa Pulkatjara – Stories from Our Land, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, 27 May – 20 June 2020 Reverence 2022, D'lan Contemporary, Melbourne, Vic, 27 October – 3 December 2022
Artwork story: As Burton said of her father's country: "A long time ago, when we were little children, we ran around Puta Puta and Ilitjata, our grandfather's and father's ground, and because of this we grew up strong. Why? Because it's Anangu country. Aboriginal people's country. Of their spirit." Ngayuku Ngura — My Country — is the title Burton returned to across her career, and this painting tells the story of that country near Pipalyatjara, west of Amata, at the meeting of the South Australian, Western Australian and Northern Territory borders. The subject is minyma mingkiri tjuta, the small female desert mice of important cultural sites. The mingkiri are pregnant and give birth to many babies, who journey to the surrounding rock holes in search of food and water for their young. The dotted lines are their tracks. The composition radiates outward from a dense central field in coral, orange and lavender, the mice rendered as small concentric ovals, their branching tracks extending in every direction across the surface. The scale is colossal relative to the woman who made it, yet the dotted lines hold a lightness of touch throughout. Burton was born around 1928 at Pipalyatjara and grew up living a nomadic life on her father's country. A senior Pitjantjatjara woman of law and a revered Ngangkari, she came to painting at Tjala Arts in 2008, having previously worked in tjanpi grass baskets and punu wood carvings. She was selected as a finalist in the Wynne Prize seven times and received the inaugural Roberts Family Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prize in 2018. Her work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Art Gallery of South Australia.