Carlene Thompson Pitjantjatjara, b. 1950
26 3/4 x 56 3/4 in
This artwork depicts Carlene's family's country which is near Kanpi in the Western APY Lands. The emu (kalaya) is the
ancestral being who formed that part of the country as it travelled from Kanpi to Watarru.
Carlene is a senior artist and woman in the Ernabella community. Her artworks are about tjulpu tjuta (birds). It is very typical
for the kalaya to have many children, like Carlene who had six children when she was a younger woman. People call her
julpu Thompson, and she says ‘like I did with my children, I now raise chicks every day on canvas and in clay in my work’.
Provenance
Ernabella Arts 474-24OPEN 
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We acknowledge the Traditional Bunurong Owners and Custodians of the lands, waters and seas on which we work and live. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. Sovereignty was never ceded.
