ANMANARI BROWN, Kungarrakalpa (Seven Sisters), 2007

ANMANARI BROWN Pitjantjatjara language, 1930 - 2018 Kungarrakalpa (Seven Sisters), 2007 acrylic on canvas 203.5 x 135 cm bears inscription verso: AGAB1206060020, Agathon Gallery, Anmanari Brown, IRR05275 PROVENANCE Irrunytju Arts Centre, Western Australia, Cat No. IRR05275 Agathon Gallery, New South Wales, Cat No. AGAB1206060020 The Collection of Barbara Hansen, Victoria Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Irrunytju Arts Centre Anmanari Brown was a senior Pitjantjatjara artist and cultural woman, born in the 1930s at Purpurna, an important rockhole in the desert. She grew up travelling through Country with her family and is recognised for her extensive knowledge of Tjukurpa and traditional cultural practices. Brown later settled at Irrunytju, where she became an important senior figure within the community. Brown frequently paints Kungkarrakalpa, or Minyma Tjuta Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming), one of the great ancestral narratives extending across the deserts of central and Western Australia. The story follows a group of sisters as they travel through Country, stopping at important sites and rockholes, including Kuru Ala, Brown's mother's Country and a significant women's site. Throughout their journey, the sisters are pursued by Nyiru, a lustful ancestral man who desires one of the women as his wife. The sisters repeatedly flee from him as he follows them across the desert, attempting to deceive and capture them. The pursuit eventually carries the ancestral figures into the heavens, where the sisters can be seen today as the cluster of stars known as the Pleiades, with Nyiru continuing his pursuit across the night sky. For Brown, this is not simply a celestial story but a living Tjukurpa embedded within Country. Its pathways connect places, people, ceremony and ancestral knowledge across an immense geographical area. Brown's interpretations of Kungkarrakalpa are distinguished by broad, minimal fields of colour punctuated by vivid signs and forms relating to Country and the sisters' journey. Layers of pigment and loosely rendered graphic elements give her paintings a striking openness and immediacy. While firmly grounded in Pitjantjatjara cultural knowledge and ancestral Tjukurpa, the expanses of colour in Brown's work create a powerful contemporary visual language through which this enduring story is expressed. © ANMANARI BROWN / Copyright Agency, 2026

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