Carolanne Ken
Minyma Makuli Tjukurpa, 2024
acrylic on linen
102 x 76 cm
286-24
This is the cave of Minyma Makuli), also known as Minyma Malilu) - minyma nymupu - she was crippled and had to crawl on her hands and knees across the...
This is the cave of Minyma Makuli), also known as Minyma Malilu) - minyma nymupu
- she was crippled and had to crawl on her hands and knees across the ground. She dug out this cave with the piti
(wooden bowl), to be her big wiltja (shelter). She camped here with her kungkawara kutjara, two daughters, young
women. One evening the girls returned from hunting with kuku pulka (
large game), she wondered how they got it, and where it had come from? Two men had given it to the girls!
Her girls leŌ her alone for a long time and didn't help her,
poor thing, poor old weak woman, so she decided to follow them. She crawled after them, wanatjara anu,
using a walking stick, following their tracks northwest back to the hills.
When she reached their camp the men hit and killed her. They had called the girls in marriage and took them away.
This is Carolanne's grandmother's country. The underground cave at Kanypi is a permanent
water supply. Carolanne is from Fregon on the *APY Lands. Precise, fine brushwork are characteristics of
her work. Carolanne is a keen story teller and combining a tradiƟonal style with a contemporary edge to
her work, reflects a keen sense of place retaining the importance of traditional country as inspiration for
her work.
- she was crippled and had to crawl on her hands and knees across the ground. She dug out this cave with the piti
(wooden bowl), to be her big wiltja (shelter). She camped here with her kungkawara kutjara, two daughters, young
women. One evening the girls returned from hunting with kuku pulka (
large game), she wondered how they got it, and where it had come from? Two men had given it to the girls!
Her girls leŌ her alone for a long time and didn't help her,
poor thing, poor old weak woman, so she decided to follow them. She crawled after them, wanatjara anu,
using a walking stick, following their tracks northwest back to the hills.
When she reached their camp the men hit and killed her. They had called the girls in marriage and took them away.
This is Carolanne's grandmother's country. The underground cave at Kanypi is a permanent
water supply. Carolanne is from Fregon on the *APY Lands. Precise, fine brushwork are characteristics of
her work. Carolanne is a keen story teller and combining a tradiƟonal style with a contemporary edge to
her work, reflects a keen sense of place retaining the importance of traditional country as inspiration for
her work.