KWEYETWEMP (KATHLEEN) PETYARRE | ATNANGKERE SOAKAGE (MOUNTAIN DEVIL LIZARD)

Gallerie Australis, Adelaide, catalogue number GAKP1297116

The Thomas Vroom Collection, The Netherlands

Cf. Nicholls, C. and North, I. Genius of Place - The Life and Art of Kathleen Petyarre, Wakefield Press, South Australia 2001, pp. 40, 41 and 51, for illustrations of similar paintings included in the artist's retrospective at Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

Atnangker, the birthplace of Eastern Anmatyerr artist Kweyetemp (later re-named ‘Kathleen’) Petyarre, is also the domain of her principal Dreaming Ancestor, an old woman Mountain or Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus). A small lizard with spikes resembling those of a miniature dinosaur, Arnkerrth has the capacity to traverse arid and semi-arid country, surviving on minimal hydration and by camouflaging itself to avoid predators. Owing to Arnkerrth’s gift for survival, in the old days Eastern Anmatyerr families had a great deal to learn from this lizard’s route taking, which is one dimension of this artwork. As Petyarre’s extended family moved around their estate, they kept as close as possible to the soakages (underground sources of potable water that’s seeped through a permeable surface) and the rockholes (depressions in rocks in which fresh water accumulates) on their country. This work maps the entirety of Atnangker country, situated to the north east of Alice Springs in Australia’s Central Desert, and over which Petyarre had principal ownership rights during her lifetime. Petyarre traces Arnkerrth’s semi-circular path as it moves awkwardly across Atnangker country. The darker areas in the lower quadrant signify permanent water. This area is sub-divided into Anmatyerr men’s and women’s separate drinking water sources, facing each other.

Petyarre’s mesmerising artwork comprises a myriad of tiny dots executed with satay sticks, instead of the tiny twigs that she used earlier in life. Layer upon layer of miniscule dotting serves to deliberately obscure the secret-sacred subtext of this painting, which relates to women’s secret initiation business.

 Dr Christine Nicholls