Three works from Warburton Arts Project Collection Exhibition: Spirit of Place (Maruku Arts) have been purchased for the Burgmann College Collection: First Nations Artists, Australian National University, Canberra.
Spirit of Place has been a travelling exhibition of highlights from The Warburton Arts Collection purchased by Maruku Arts following a funding crisis at Warburton, and now available via Maruku Arts with royalties on sales being returned by Maruku Arts to the Warburton Artists.
This touring exhibition was first presented at the 2013 ASEAN Expo in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China; returning to Australia and exhibited in Victoria, and recently at the Australian National University, Canberra, in 2018.
With thanks to the generous support of our donors, we are thrilled to add these important works to the College’s growing collection of works by First Nations artists. ~ Amelia Zaraftis, The Burgmann Collection.
Image Top: Betty West: Wati Kutjarra – Two Men, (WAPCS010-13) Acrylic on canvas, 94x95cm.
Wati Kutjarra, or the Two Men is an extremely important Law story. Here the men are shown resting, gathering wild food and conducting ceremonies with other men in country to the north of Warburton Ranges. The short curling shapes are natural features of the landscape, and the two men can be seen resting within their respective bow shelters at two separate sites.
Image Middle: Christine West: Minyma Kutjarra Mangari – Two Women (WAPCS004-13),Acrylic on canvas, 95x95cm.
The Minyma Kutjarra, travelled the artists´ traditional lands during the creation period, forming landscape and leaving behind information still used today about important rituals. In this painting, concentric circles show mangurri or headrings used by the women to balance collecting bowls on their heads when travelling. The Minyma Kutjarra left them scattered around the country as they crossed to the southeast of the Warburton Ranges. Where they came to rest are sacred sites in an important songline linking women across the Central and Western Deserts.
Image Bottom: Nola Hunt: Kapi Tjukurla (waterholes) (WAPCS003-12), Acrylic on canvas, 91x101cm.
These are the sacred Kapi Tjukurla or waterholes Kunnapurrul, Mamine, Winljurru and Kulpalytjarra in the artist´s father´s country to the North of the Warburton Ranges. They are on the sacred songline of Wati Kutjarra, the Two Men, as they travelled across country, creating the natural features of the landscape, giving sacred law and ceremonies for the ongoing spiritual maintenance of desert life. Curved lines show sandhills covered with vegetation and the circles show the vegetation and the water places.