MYRTLE PETYARRE
Myrtle Petyarre (c1930 - 2014)
Arnkerrth Awelye (Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming, 1999.
82 x 56 cm. Acrylic on canvas.
ARTIST
Born around 1930 on Utopia country, Petyarre is a member of the Anmatyerre language group. The youngest of seven sisters, including artist Evelyn Pultara, and niece to Emily Kam Kngwarray.
Petyarre began working with batik in the 1970s before moving to acrylics in 1988. Her works are in the Holmes à Court Collection, National Gallery of Australia, and more.WORK
This work combines women’s ceremonial painting (awelye) patterns with the ancestral totem of the mountain devil lizard. Bold linear motifs and rhythmic dots in ochre hues reflect the lizard’s ochre-laden travels and the body-painting rituals that connect women, country and Dreaming. The result: a mesmerizing, ancestral map of ecology, ceremony and memory.