Wilkinkarra by Pauline Sunfly, original Aboriginal acrylic painting, 182.9 × 81.3 cm, depicting Country near Lake Mackay, Western Australia.

Pauline Sunfly - Wilkinkarra

Name: Pauline Sunfly - Wilkinkarra
Brand: Pauline Sunfly
SKU: BAL666-23
Price: 6700.00 AUD
Availability: InStock

$6,700 AUD

Artist:

Pauline Sunfly

Size:

182.9cm x 81.3cm

Medium:

Acrylic

Wilkinkarra is an original acrylic painting by Kukatja artist Pauline Sunfly, from Wirrimanu (Balgo) in Western Australia. Measuring 182.9 × 81.3 cm, the painting depicts Liltjin, part of her father's Country near Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). The work references the dry creek beds that flow towards the salt lake during the wet season and places associated with the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming).

Story from the certificate: Pauline has painted some of her father's country. Pauline's father, Sunfly Tjampitjin, was a senior custodian for country south of Balgo, near the vast salt lake of Wilkinkarra (Lake MacKay). The country depicted here is named Liltjin. The many lines throughout the painting are the dry creek beds which during the wet season flow into Wilkinkarra. During the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) people lived in the holes depicted.

Artists Biography

Pauline Sunfly
Born 1958, Old Balgo Mission, WA
Community - Wirrimanu (Balgo), WA
Skin - Nangala
Language -Kukatja
Country - Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay) and Mangkayi

Pauline paints her parents’ Country. Her mother, Bai Bai Napangarti (c.1935–2020), a law woman and senior Elder of the Balgo community, is a Ngardi woman whose Country extends from Mangkayi in the Stansmore Ranges to just south of Yagga Yagga. Her late father, Sunfly Tjampitjin (c.1920–1996), was an important Kukatja law man who was born further south, at Murrunpa (the Alec Ross Range) near Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay).

Pauline was born at the old Balgo Mission and was educated through the mission school. She recalls working in the kitchen, the laundry and clearing the grounds of the mission. She has spent some time in Fitzroy Crossing and has visited Broome and Alice Springs, but otherwise has remained in Balgo with her ever growing family.

Bai Bai introduced her three daughters to painting at an early age, teaching them Tjukurrpa (creation stories and lore) through mark making. Pauline became an adept painter in her own right as a young woman, learning her craft through time spent sitting and painting with the old people. Bold and striking, her paintings depict ancestral paths, ceremonial designs and the stories of important Tjukurrpa sites associated with the native cat, goanna and luurnpa (kingfisher).

Pauline has been a finalist for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) and the Kate Challis Raka Art Award, she has had two solo exhibitions including a showcase in the 2019 Tarnanthi Art Fair at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Pauline’s work is found in significant national and international collections.

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About Aboriginal Contemporary

Aboriginal Contemporary has an enviable reputation for quality, service and ethical trading; not just with our customers but with the art centres from whom we source our work.

This is in no small part due to owner Nichola Dare’s regular trips to some of the most remote parts of Australia and her ability to build relationships with art centres and artists, based on mutual trust and respect. Nichola’s time in Australia’s Western Desert, The Kimberley, APY Lands and Arnhem Land has also given her a deep understanding of the country and culture at the heart of the art we sell.

Pauline Sunfly - Wilkinkarra

Pauline Sunfly - Wilkinkarra

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