Wati Kutjarra (Two Brothers Dreaming)

Date2004

Label TextLake Mackay, a vast salt encrusted lake, is on most maps of Australia. To this artist, it is Wilkinkarra, his homeland created by two ancestral brothers in the epic era of dreaming. In this canvas, two vertical lines recall where the brothers camped and the middle horizontal white line is the windbreak they built. Their presence is embedded in the water and landscape, and their teachings are carried on by leaders like Tjumpo, who was a respected lawman and healer. He constantly walked around his homeland and painted it so that we would pay attention to what our eyes couldn’t see. If you’ve walked across a salt lake, do these patterns resonate with your memories of the crusts that form?

Object number2019.20.3

Provenance[Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2004

Photo CreditPhoto: Susan Cole

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan and Levi Collection, May 31 - Sept. 12, 2012 (Nashville, Tenessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, June 23 - Oct. 15, 2017; Madison, Wisconsin, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Jan. 26 - Apr. 22, 2018; Austin, Texas, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, June 3 - Sept. 9, 2018; Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, Audain Art Museum, Oct. 5, 2018 - Jan. 28, 2019). Text by Pamela McClusky, Wally Caruana, Lisa Graziose Corrin, and Stephen Gilchrist. Cat. no. 39, pp. 35, 130-131, reproduced fig. 7. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.Published ReferencesIshikawa, Chiyo, ed. A Community of Collectors: 75th Anniversary Gifts to the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Art Museum, 2007; reproduced p. 83.

Credit LineGift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

Dimensions70 7/8 x 59 1/16 in. (180 x 150 cm)

MediumSynthetic polymer paint on canvas