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Jarran Jan Billycan, Broome, 2007:

In living water there is a quiet snake. Sometimes he rises up, but we sing him down. Sometimes he can travel and bring rain.
Colour photograph of a hand dotting yellow paint onto a dark canvas.

Mayapu Elsie Thomas paints Kurrkumalu

Water was not only critical to desert people's physical survival, it was also central to their ceremonial practices and spiritual beliefs. The location of water sources defines Aboriginal people's Country.

The northern end of the Canning Stock Route crosses the Great Sandy Desert. Here springs are considered 'living' waters and are known as 'jila'. Some are inhabited by powerful ancestral beings.

Many of these jila are linked by Dreaming tracks that connect the Countries of Martu, Yulparija, Juwaliny, Mangala, Wangkajunga and Walmajarri people. The ancestral stories of these sites are recorded in the songs and dances that cross the desert, uniting peoples through shared ceremonies and law.

A number of these jila, including Kukapanyu (Well 39), Kulyayi (Well 42), Katajilkarr (Well 43) and Kaningarra (Well 48), became wells on the Canning Stock Route.

A rectangular painting on brown linen of two turquoise-dark green shapes edged with white dotted paint and a white dot filled shape at both bottom corners. The top shape is turquoise at the top and merges into dark green in the lower half of the shape. - click to view larger image

Kiriwirri (1 of 2) by Jan Billycan
A rectangular painting on brown linen with three round edged shapes in aqua-turquoise extending from the edges into the middle of the painting with light coloured edges, on a black or dark navy background. The bottom right corner is filled with sinuous lines of turquoise dots. - click to view larger image

Kiriwirri (2 of 2) by Jan Billycan
An orange toned painting on brown linen of boulder-like shapes on a black background. The left of the painting has an oval shape in yellow-orange and pink-orange with a white edge and horizontal line across the middle. Underneath this shape is a white filled shape while above it is a translucent shape in yellow-pink with a white edge. At the centre top is a rounded triangle shape of yellow-white with an orange edge. On the right of the painting is a stack of three orange-pink shapes with burgundy outlines, with a yellow-white shape above and a translucent orange shape in the bottom right corner. - click to view larger image

Kiriwirri by Jan Billycan
A framed acrylic on paper painting. It features a brown/orange background with a blue dot in the centre, green lines at the top and bottom and alternating white, red, green, yellow and pink sloping lines. - click to view larger image

Kiriwirri by Nada Rawlins
A painting on canvas with purple-pink, yellow, red and orange vertical stripes. The central section has less yellow and orange, and in the lower part the stripes are closer together and converge towards the centre bottom edge. - click to view larger image

Jilji by Taku Rosie Tarco
A painting on canvas with a vertical blue and red stripe-like section on the left, and vertical lines of squares on the right. The left side of the painting has long thin oblong outlines in red on a blue background. The middle of the painting has three and a half vertical lines of grey squares outlined with red dots on a white background On the right there is a vertical line of red squares on an orange background with a green square decorated with a red

Nyilangkurr by Donald Moko
A square painting on canvas in mainly primary colours showing an uneven concentric circle which becomes a round edged square in the outer rings. There are thin white lines between each ring, and colours start with black in the centre then, red, dark green, yellow orange and blue at the edge. - click to view larger image

Tapu by Wakartu Cory Surprise
A painting on canvas with rows of trees with brown-black trunks and green foliage against a background of pink or yellow-green at the top and bottom. In the centre there is a dark purple oval shape edged with several bands of colour and surrounded by outlined shapes filled with dots of magenta, red, green, lime, black and white. To the right of the purple oval is a pale peach coloured area. The edge of the painting has multiple borders in red, orange, lime and green. - click to view larger image

Tapu Country by Jukuna Mona Chuguna
A multicoloured concentric circle painted within a square border on canvas. Colours include turquoise, pink, red, green, blue, and shades of purple. - click to view larger image

Jila by Nyuju Stumpy Brown
A concentric square painting on canvas in bright colours with two concentric circle motifs with blue centres in a vertical row. The colours include blue, orange, yellow, red, green, black and white. - click to view larger image

Ngapawarla Jila by Nyuju Stumpy Brown
A multicoloured square painting on canvas with a dark blue oval inside a green border in the centre and four dark blue circles with green borders evenly spaced around it, on an aqua background. The centre is surrounded by borders in pink, orange, green, red and pale blue, with a row of brown and pink motifs running down both sides. The corners have a roughly triangular shape in light blue with a lime green border. - click to view larger image

Kartamarti by Jukuja Dolly Snell
A square multicoloured painting on canvas divided into three horizontal segments, with three turquoise, green and orange concentric circles in a line across the centre, which rises slightly at the right side. These are surrounded by pink, brown and green tree-like motifs on a black background. Above and below this central section is a line of yellow then lines of turquoise separated by green discs on red stripes. - click to view larger image

Jitirr by Jukuja Dolly Snell
A rectangular painting on brown linen showing the silhouette of a human figure in dark purple outlined with pink then peach and orange dotted lines with pink facial features, above a dark grey-green circle. The background of the painting is black with an overlay of diagonal lines of dots in brown at the top, orange in the middle and down the centre and peach at the bottom. - click to view larger image

Lawalawa by Ngarralja Tommy May
A rectangular painting on brown linen with a painted black background. The top left of the picture has two U shapes and a blue line, while the top right has a purple oval and a smaller yellow oval with outlines in several colours. A green oval with a yellow-brown outline is in the centre of the picture, and a yellow wavy line edged with white dots runs across the painting underneath the oval. Beneath the line there are tree motifs on a predominently yellow dotted background. Other motifs are edged with red, yellow, white and green dots. - click to view larger image

Kurrkumalu by Mayapu Elsie Thomas
A painting on brown linen with vertical stripes of yellow, brown, burgundy and green, flanking a central section of four blue and green circles in a vertical line on a background of white, burgundy, and orange dots. - click to view larger image

Lampu, Kurninarra, Kartalapuru, Kujuwarri by Kuji Rosie Goodjie
A painting on brown linen with three green and black circles in a vertical row with two striped shapes in orange and red or maroon on the left side. The rest of the surface is covered with orange, white, brown, red and cream dots. - click to view larger image

Lipuru, Kukapanyu, Wajaparni by Kuji Rosie Goodjie
A square painting on canvas with a concentric circle in turquoise, green and blue in the centre with four tree branches in white and green protruding from the top, and three from the bottom. The background of the painting is brown with an overlay of yellow and red dots. - click to view larger image

Nyilnigil by Nyangkarni Penny K-Lyons

Explore more artworks

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The jila men
Paruku and Tjurabalan
Droving time
Natawalu
The moving desert

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