Piltati Tjukurrpa
2008
Eileen Yaritja Stevens
Australian Aboriginal, Pitjantjatjara people, Nyapari, Southwestern Deserts, South Australia, 1915 - 2008
There is no lack of drama squeezed into this square canvas. It describes a foundational story that involves a struggle of wills between two brothers who are married to two sisters. The men tend to sit around, perform ceremonies, paint, or sleep while the women work hard gathering food and become angry about this inequity, but set out to gather honey ants and dig for burrowing bettong (a marsupial). When the brothers wake up, they turn into Rainbow Serpents and devour the women. Then the women also become Rainbow Serpents and forever after watch over the Pilati rockhole, where a deep pool of life-sustaining fresh water hides from the scorching sun.
--Pam McClusky, Curator of African and Oceanic Art, 2012
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
78 3/4 x 79 1/8 in. (200 x 201 cm)
Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan
2019.20.10
Provenance: [Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2009
Photo: iocolor, Seattle
