Malatja-malatja tjutaku kulu – ‘For the future generations’

Antara is a significant and sacred place for many of the artists from Mimili Maku art centre. Painting ancestral songlines that traverse this country – specifically the Maku Tjukurpa (Witchetty Grub songline) – artists not only meditate on the importance of culture, ceremony and country, but can effectively pass this knowledge on to the younger generations.

Retired teacher Tuppy Goodwin’s expansive knowledge of traditional law and culture is playfully illustrated in her large-scale, radiant artworks, characteristic in their colourful application and distinctive linework that highlight important landmarks of her country.

Known for her knowledge of Inma (traditional dance and song), Puna Yanima uses her signature thick, bold brushwork to traverse Tjukurpa (songlines) across the canvas, imparting her knowledge for generations. Ngupulya Pumani’s woven layers of dots also contain important information.

Marina Brown, the youngest artist in the exhibition, comes from a strong heritage of very esteemed female painters (her mother is Betty Pumani). The legacy of these women continues in Marina’s work, as she continues to paint Tjukurpa and country particular to people from the community of Mimili and surrounding homelands of the Anangu, Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.

Willy Martin’s pair of striking works on canvas sing with a confident vigour that has developed over time as a senior cultural man, and custodian of the Wanampi (water snake) Tjukurpa.

Sourcing unconventional substrates on which to build his artwork, Mumu Mike Williams has progressed from his acclaimed ‘postbag paintings,’ to using found maps of Australia as a powerful medium to help keep Anangu men’s Kulata Tjukurpa strong.