About this artwork

Ned Grant intertwines himself within the landscape, unable to separate. He is a manifestation of the enormity of place that is Spinifex Land. With all of its labyrinthine religion within the physical, the flora, the fauna, the manta (ground). He moves under it, through it, above it, encompassing all. Religion is everywhere, it is sung, it is danced by firelight and it resides in and drives Ned Grant to paint. Here he depicts the Ngalta (Desert Kurrajong) in its spiritual incarnation and the embodiment of his religion at the significant site of Palpatatjara. It is at this site that holds the Tjulpu Tjuta Tjukurpa (Many Birds Creation Line), a narrative that follows a group of Nyii- Nyii (Zebra Finch) as they journey south to the coast to save the world from rising seas. These are creation beings who shape the immediate landscape as they move through it. It is they who made the physical and the moral compass that still guides Spinifex People today.