661-24AS, Adelaide Studio, 152 x 152, acrylic on linen
I paint the same story as my aunty Kukika Adamson. It's from my grandfather Tjilpi Tiger Palpatja. This story is about wait kutjara and minuma kutjara (two men and two women). They lived together these two brothers and two sisters, and they got married. Every morning the men would tell the women to go out hunting. Then they would go and sit somewhere and do cermony- singing and dancing. As part of the ceremony they'd change into all different animals. Different animals on fidderent days like emu, eagle, kangaroo. At last the older brother said let's change into Wanampi (water snakes. The younger brother said we should go up to the sky but the older bother said wiya (no), it's not safe up there. So instead they went under the ground and they made a big creek, all the way to a big waterhole- called Piltati- and they stayed there.
The ladies couldn't find the men. They followed the creek because they were thristy- they were heading to the waterhole. As they got closer, they were digging down for water and one of the sisters saw a snake track. They thought it was a small snake they could catch for meat. But it wasn't, it was a huge wanampi. The younger sister continued to dig and her wana (digging stick) came down adn stabbed the wanampi. The older brother came up and chased the women. they threw their wana and piti (bowl) and ran. The wanampi caught up with them and ate them.
Back in the old days, if someone was pregnant and was going into labour, they would take the woman to a cave to have the baby. My great grandmother was travelling west when she needed to stop and have her baby. Her family took her to the cave at Piltati- my grandfather was born there. That's why we became part of that story and that country. And that's why I know and paint that Tjukurpa.
