Nyunkulya was born around 1938 at Palkarli rockhole near Inurantja (Mt Aloysius), which is close to the tri-state border of South Australia, the Northern Territory and West Australia. “These rockholes are really important places. First one is Mt Aloysius. My mother used to look after me in this place. I was born in that country. After we travelled to Unpitji. Then a rockhole called Kunputina, a secret men’s place. At this place I had a dream that all the tjukurpa wati were pulling the sinew out of my body. That’s why I can’t walk. I was born like that. Another rockhole is Marpantja. At Tjilputa all the bird women are making a wiltja. The other rockholes are Iwarra, Altjutjara, Yarliyiri and Pulka Ala Kapu Tjuta. There are a lot of rockholes in my country.”
Nyankulya is a senior Pitjantjatjara woman. As a teenager Nyankulya lived at Anamarapiti, an outstation near Irrunytju. She remembers when the Native Patrol told her family to move off the land and go to Ernabella. “It was good at the mission there was lots of flour, tea and sugar. In the morning we would listen for the bell, then we would line up for food, go to church and then to work.” Nyankulya travelled back to her country with her family. Because she was unable to walk she rode a donkey, first to Musgrave Park, now the community of Amata, then on to Irrunytju.
Nyankulya’s paintings are highly stylised representations of the country that she traversed many times. “The circles in my painting are the rockholes and the lines are the tracks.” Formal and aesthetic concerns are prioritised over topographical details. The lines that represent rockholes, campsites and tracks are composed to create a rhythmic asymmetrical pattern across the surface of the canvas. The areas between the lines are painted as blocks of layered colour. Similar concerns with composition, colour and texture are reflected in Nyankulya’s weaving. Her tactile tjanpi baskets are organically shaped, richly textured, and made using strands of raffia of many colours.
- Writers:
- Knights, Mary
- Date written:
- 2006
- Last updated:
- 2011
