09/01/2024
Kalyu depicts a vast area adjacent to Karlamilyi National Park in Western Australia, a 1.3 million hectare zone that encompasses the Martu Aboriginal communities of Parnngurr & Punmu.
Painted by nine artists from Parnngurr, it draws together stories, histories & experiences.
Kalyu is a significant work that was painted as a protest against uranium mining exploration taking place on the edge of Karlamilyi National Park, an area that is exempt from the 2002 Martu native title determination, yet is considered by the artists to be ‘the heart of Martu Country’.
The intricate work speaks to the fragile interdependent relationship between different environmental elements of the region, indicating how the hidden underground waterways play a vital role in the biodiversity of the area.
This depiction was then covered in thick maroon paint, mimicking the moist, rich soil that can be found when one digs down deep.
The women artists then painted layers of brightly coloured terrain on top of the maroon paint, including portrayals of waterholes, rivers, lakes, uranium deposits, claypans and the bright green of new-growth Spinifex grass that comes up in the rainy season and after a fire. A series of large warta (trees) indicate the underground water systems that flow beneath the desert.
Similar to flying over the region where different colours and patterns reveal themselves, Kalyu depicts the landscape changing in a multitude of ways. Dense and detailed, the layering of imagery recreates the ridges and undulations of the Martu Country in paint.
Wide strips comprising of thickly painted dots in neon green flow into patch-worked patterns of yellow, purple, white and silver.
Segments of thicker brushstrokes make way for intricate areas made up of fine orange and bronze dotting, creating a sense of movement as the metallic colours shimmer under the light.
Image: Kalyu’, 2014
synthetic polymer paint on linen, 500 x 300cm: Kumpaya Girgirba, Kanu Nancy Taylor, Ngalangka Nola Taylor, Ngamaru Bidu, Wokka Taylor, Muuki Taylor, Jakayu Biljabu, Bowja Patricia Butt, Noelene Girgirba.
