Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming
1996
Kathleen Petyarr
Australian Aboriginal, Anmatyerr people, Utopia, Central Desert, Northern Territory, born ca. 1940 - 2018
Pointillism is taken to new levels by Kathleen Petyarr who paints with meticulous care using a satay stick. Her wavy X across the middle of the painting marks the path of a specific lizard, the Mountain Devil Lizard. What is recorded here is the lizard’s idiosyncratic habit of meandering, swerving around obstacles, never following a straight path. The dots that appear in dense clusters simultaneously convey the spotted pattern of the lizard’s skin, the seeds or small ants she eats, and the sandstorms she passes through.
This ancestor established the features of the landscape in her pilgrimage of creation and women follow her trail during ceremonial cycles. The central X marks the spot where women custodians sing and dance to revive a narrative emphasizing feminine fortitude and reliance on traditional leaders. These paintings map multiple levels of existence, including the ancestral past, practical necessities of the present and hopes for the survival of generations to come.
--Pam McClusky, Curator of African and Oceanic Art, 2012
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
48 1/16 x 48 1/16 in. (122 x 122 cm)
Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan in honor of Kimerly Rorschach
2019.20.1
Provenance: [Gallerie Australis, Adelaide, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2000
Photo: iocolor, Seattle