Kirriwirri
Product Details
This place is where my family is from, the Great Sandy Desert. My Mum's family side. It’s a painting about Kirriwirri, north of Punmu, it's Kulyukartu Country, my Great Grandmother’s Country. My mum, for mum, for Country and her family. Through stories, I learned to paint this soak (natural spring)
122 cm x 91 cm x 3 cm
Acrylic on canvas
Wilson lives in Bidyadanga and learnt his style of painting from his old people who paint their family's country in Wilson Junior-Mandijalu was born in Broome but has spent most of his life in Bidyadanga, where the Great Sandy Desert meets the sea. His family comes from Kulyukartu, his grandmother’s Country near the Percival Lakes in the Great Sandy Desert. Mandijalu is part of the Martu diaspora, whose families relocated to Bidyadanga in the 1960s and 70s due to a prolonged drought that dried out many of the underground water systems in the desert. His grandmother moved northwest to the saltwater Country of Bidyadanga, while her brothers and sister—Muuki Taylor, Wokka Taylor (dec.), and Nyalangka Nola Taylor—travelled south to Jigalong before settling in Parnngurr.
Mandijalu first visited Kulyukartu when his family gained Nave Title over the land. The experience le a deep impact on him, saying he “didn’t want to leave that place.” His journey as an artist began in 2021 during a stay in Parnngurr, where he watched his grandparents and other senior artists painting. Inspired by their work, he started painting his own Country, focusing on the desert landscapes of Kulyukartu.
