Martha McDonald depicted Walukuritji in her works. It is one of a series of clay pans to the south of Lake MacDonald that were significant for her father, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi. The surrounding dot matrix depicts the tapestry of different types of vegetation across the  landscape. “These are ngati (holes) and a little bit of kapi (water) in the waterholes, still ngati. And watiya (trees). Watiya, one, two, three, four. Watiya.” 

Martha witnessed the beginnings of the Papunya Art Movement in the early 1970s, when her father created authoritative works that would go on to be internationally celebrated. While Martha painted his country, she did so in her own way, and only in relation to the stories that she knows about it. 

“This place is my father's country, Warlukuritji, other side of Kintore. I don’t know where. South of Kintore.  I am watching my father paint, his way, in the old way. They were are doing painting before, outside, otherside of the church. We used to see them. You listen - this is father’s country, Daddy. But I paint differently to my father.”

This artwork was exhibited in the exhibition Keepers of Place: new works from Papunya Tjupi.

Presented by McCulloch & McCulloch in association with Papunya Tjupi Arts

24 May-4 June, 2016

fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, 3000