Ned Grant Papatatjara, 2023 Spinifex Arts Project

Medium: Acrylic on Linen Size: 85 x 110 cm ID: #23-456
Price: $3120





    About this artwork

    Ned Grant follows the wata (tree roots) underground as they search for life affirming water sources. He sees them intertwined in the fabric of the significant sites he paints, depicting them as metamorphic beings from creation or as life saving water catchments in times of drought. This linking with this flora permeates all of Ned’s work as he identifies with the spiritual connection the trees have always possessed across the lands and through eons. Here he brings the significant site of Papatatjara into view with nearby Pikakara and Milpiltjara. It is this area this country that holds the Maku Tjuta Tjukurpa (Witchetty Grub Creation Line) and follows as all the Maku traverse these sites. These are creation beings and they shape the landscape as they move through it, leaving behind not only the physical environment but the moral framework on which a spiritual life can form. This mapped environment and the movement of the first beings is ritually performed with song, as part of the oral transference of culture.