Sallyanne Roberts Australian, Pitjantjatjara, b. 1986

“I grew up in my grandmother’s country close to Nyapari, my grandmothers name is Wingu Tingima; she was a Ngangkari (traditional healer) and a famous painter. When she was getting very old, she taught me her stories, and how to paint them in our special family’s way. She taught me how to paint the pictures of Kuru Ala country – it’s a special place just for women.

My paintings are about the country called Kura Ala, I’ve been there with my grandmother and other women before – it’s a special country only for women. My grandmother Wingu would say; “You can go there and travel through the area, but you shouldn’t stop there, or you might get sick. It’s a special place where young girls go to become women, they can have special inma (ceremonies) there and have a time for healing.”

In my paintings I show all the women out at Kura Ala gathering food from the bush to eat after the inma. The large, curved shapes link colourful rings patterns and pathways together, they are the patterns made by the ladies’ footsteps from their special inma dance.

The circles with thin lines reaching out of them are the wiltja’s (camp houses) the women have made from tree branches and sticks. Some areas of the canvas depict the special rock hole – but it’s not for swimming in, only the little yellow round rock holes shown in the middle of the canvas are for swimming. The ladies are shown by the semi circle shape, gathering for dancing and teaching the young girls lessons.“