Ian Rictor paints with a quiet reverence for the country that he depicts, from his relatively recent nomadic movements over the endless interior that makes up Spinifex Lands. Ian walked from water source to food source and beyond, this was a cultural and family existence for survival in an arid land before his family were found and' brought in' by relatives in 1986, making them the last known hunter gatherer in Australia. Ian's compositions center on the life affirming sites he depicts and each are multi layered with meaning. Many are surrounded with secrecy and only surface details can be recorded.

Here he paints the significant site Tuwan, situated in the heart of traditional Spinifex Country and where Ian holds birth connection and custodial obligation to. Tuwan is a site that holds the Tjulpu Tjuta Tjukurpa (Many Birds Creation Line), a Mens narrative of high sensitivity. It is from here at Tuwan, where a group of powerful Wati Nyii-Nyii (Zebra Finch Men) depart for the southern coast to save the world from the rising seas. At the Great Australian Bight they pierce the coast with their spears to form a fortified breakwater and stop the seas.