Artist: Faith Butler
Size: 121.9cm x 147.3cm
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Biography:
Faith was born to Nutangka Bennet and Barney Ward at a place called Mangatjatjara, close to the extremely important sacred site deep in the desert. Faith now lives in a small and remote community of Tjukurla, where she paints the stories of her country using the traditional Tjukurrpa and Tingarri designs passeddown to her. Faith is well respected in her community as a knowledgeable Ngaanyatjarra woman. When Tjukurla was still a small outstation of Kaltukatjara, there was no infrastructure or services. The responsibility of teaching the children in daily classes was given to Faith. Faith is also a skilled basket weaver and purnu (wooden artefact) carver. Faith has an aptitude for colour selection, and her canvases are strongly composed and carefully executed. She has been painting with Tjarlirli Art almost since its inception, and is a key and longstanding member of the organisation.
Faith's spirituality is a deep and essential part of her, and she is a significant dancer for inma, women's ceremonies. This cultural knowledge is embedded in her practice, and she often sings songs from her country while working and takes every opportunity to return to country and spend time painting and conducting ceremonies in the bush. Her works in capture the music and movement that Faith brings to the studio and her every day. Her works sing with the stories linking countless generations of women to one another in the desert lands, and celebrate the joys of connectedness to country and people.
Story from the certificate of authenticity:
Faith has painted he site Kitji Kitji. It is an important site approximately two days drive into the remote desert north west of Tjukurla community, however when Faith was growing up, this area was only traversed on foot. At Kitji Kitji, she explains, there is one rockhole surrounded by sandhills. It is close to a very sacred site where an individual rockhole lies, moving between one site, one rockhole, to the next depending on where the water is, demonstrating the extreme importance of these water sources.
