Piltati Tjukurrpa

Date2008

Maker Eileen Yaritja Stevens Australian Aboriginal, Pitjantjatjara people, Nyapari, Southwestern Deserts, South Australia, 1915 - 2008

Label TextThere 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

Object number2019.20.10

Provenance[Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2009

Photo CreditPhoto: iocolor, Seattle

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & 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. 35, pp. 122-123, reproduced.

Credit LineGift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan

Dimensions78 3/4 x 79 1/8 in. (200 x 201 cm)

MediumSynthetic polymer paint on canvas