Sandra Turner, Yalka at Karinyarra, 50x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Sandra Turner
• Community - Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff)
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Ikuntji Artists
• Catalogue number - 18-ST139
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas  
• Size(cm) - H50 W30 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping.
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This is the story of the Napaltjarri women digging for yalka (bush onion) in Karinyarra (Mount Wedge) country. Karinyarra is a two-hour drive from Haasts Bluff and is the country of Japaltjarri men and Napaltjiarri women. The shapes depict the women digging for bush onion, the hills are the curved lines and the rivers are the lines. There are camels walking around in this country. Bush onion is used for eating and for making a drinking bush medicine. There is bush onion growing all year round, one can find them around the rock holes. The yalka is harvested by using a stick and digging it into the ground to make it soft, then the yalka can be taken out by hand.

“This is my grandfather's Dreaming. He is my mother's father and this Dreaming is from her line. Here, women are digging for bush onion around the river in Karinyarra - north of Papunya. The lines in my paintings show the rivers. The circular shapes are the woman digging for the bush onion around the rock holes.”

Sandra is the younger sister of Jeannie Wareenie Ross. They have different mothers but the same father.

Sandra started painting in the 1980s at Papunya through Papunya Tula Artists. She moved to Mount Liebig and still kept painting there. In 2018, Sandra moved to Haasts Bluff and began painting with Ikuntji Artists.

Her paintings are about her country, Watiyawanu – Mount Liebig. The two creeks at Mount Liebig feature in her work.

A lot of stories are still being recounted of long journeys of people from various language groups, who travelled from rockholes and waterholes to caves and mountains finally arriving at Haasts Bluff. The locals, Luritja people of Haasts Bluff, were already here. Thus Haasts Bluff is a community rich of diversity in language and culture.

Ikuntji Artists was first established in 1992, after a series of workshops with Melbourne artist Marina Strocchi, and under the influence of the then community president, the late Esther Jugadai. The art centre was initially set up to fulfill the role of women’s centre providing services such as catering for old people and children in the community. After first experiences made in printing T-shirts, the artists began producing acrylic paintings on linen and handmade paper, which quickly gained the attention of the Australian and international art world as well as earning the centre an impressive reputation for fine art. The focus changed from a women’s centre to an art centre in 2005 with the incorporation of the art centre as Ikuntji Artists Aboriginal Corporation.

The artists draw their inspiration from their personal ngurra (country) and Tjukurrpa (Dreaming). They interpret the ancestral stories by using traditional symbols, icons, and motifs. The artistic repertoire of Ikuntji Artists is diverse and includes for example naive as well as highly abstract paintings told by each artist in their personal signature style. Throughout the 21 years of its existence, the art movement in Ikuntji has flourished and constantly left its mark in the fine art world. At the same time, the art centre has been the cultural hub of the community, maintaining, reinforcing and reinvigorating cultural practices through art-making.

Today Ikuntji Artists has eight key artists, who exhibit in Australia and internationally. They are represented in major collections across the globe.

Text: Melanie Greiner, Alison Multa and Dr Chrischona Schmidt