ALKAWARI DAWSON, Kalaya Wati, 2005

ALKAWARI DAWSON Pitjantjatjara language, 1930 - 2010 Kalaya Wati, 2005 acrylic on canvas 92.5 x 147 cm bears inscription verso: Irrunytju, Alkawari Dawson, IRR05435 PROVENANCE Irrunytju Arts Centre, Western Australia, Cat No. IRR05435 Vivien Anderson Gallery, Victoria The Collection of Barbara Hansen, Victoria Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Irrunytju Arts Centre and a receipt from Vivien Anderson Gallery This painting represents Kalaya Wati Tjukurrpa (Emu Man Dreaming), a Tjukurrpa Mulapa (true Dreaming) belonging to Alkawari Dawson's own country, centred on Tjuntjun rockhole near Warburton. The Tjukurrpa tells of a night at the rockhole when the minyma (women) lay down to sleep but remained restless, for a Wati Liru (Snake Man) was moving in the shadows nearby with several baby snakes living in the rockhole itself, in Dawson's mother's country. The painting's dense clusters of overlapping roundels, worked in blue, yellow, green and white across the full canvas, carry the memory of this country of creeks and rockholes, which Dawson describes as "good country," rich with kapi (water) and known to her from the earliest days of her life. Dawson's own account situates the work firmly within lived and inherited knowledge of this place. "Ngayuku nguru is Warburton way, near the ranges," she states, "there are creeks with kapi, good country... early days we walk around, long time." This grounding in direct experience of the land, carried forward across generations, gives the painting its standing as Tjukurrpa Mulapa, a true telling of the country. © ALKAWARI DAWSON / Copyright Agency, 2026

Estimate:$4,219.91

View all items fromArt LevenorArts & Graphics