Selina Kulitja - Kungkarangkalpa 40 x 40 cm
Artist: Selina Kulitja
Title: Kungarankalpa
Cat No: HJ
Size: 40 x 40cm
Acrylic on linen. Stretched and ready to hang.
Story:
This painting depicts the Tjukurpa, the law and stories of Ancestors. Anangu (Central and Western Desert Aboriginal people) have responsibility for the protection and teaching of different Tjukurpa and there are stick protocols for the imparting of knowledge. The dotting technique has evolved with the need to adapt sacred expressions of Tjukurpa for public viewing and as a depiction of the desert landscape.
Kungkarangkalpa is the Tjukurpa of the Seven Sisters, about a group of women being pursued by a cunning man called Nyiru who attempts to lure them into marriage with him. He disguises himself in countless ways to trick the sisters and is sometimes is also invisible in paintings.
In their escape the sisters travelled through a vast amount of Australia. They stopped to camp, build shelter and hunt for food thus forming many features of the landscape and embedding the knowledge of survival in it. Eventually they fled into the sky where they became the constellation known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Nyiru still follows them ceaselessly across the night sky as one of the bright stars in the constellation of Orion.
About:
Language: Pitjantjatjara
Date of birth: 1972-03-29
Community: Docker River, NT
Selina Kulitja is minyma Anangu, an Aboriginal woman from the Central Desert area of Australia. Her mother, senior artist, Nyinku Kulitja taught her how to paint. Selina began carving in the 1990s. She began painting with Maruku in 2008 and was elected chair person in 2018. Selina is a strong ambassador for Maruku bringing her people's art and culture to the wider world through workshops and exhibitions.
