Untitled Scarf By Katarra Butler Napaltjarri

Katarra Butler’s untitled painting depicts designs associated with the site of Tjukurla in Western Australia. During ancestral times, a group of women gathered at Tjukurla to perform the ceremonial songs and dances associated with the area. While there, the women spun hair to make ceremonial nyimparra (hair-string skirts), before travelling towards Kintore. As they travelled, the women gathered large quantities of the edible fruit known as pura or pintalypa (bush tomato) from the Solanum chippendalei shrub. The women also collected mangata (quandong) from the small tree Santalum acuminatum, and kampurarrpa or bush raisins from the shrub Solanum centrale. The various bush foods foraged by the women are represented by the numerous small circles in this painting.

Katarra’s work is characterised by her striking use of colour and loose, fluid brush strokes. The artist’s bold use of fiery tones and sherbet pastels is tempered by the black underpainting in this work, her energetic linework evoking the rhythmic movement of bush foods foraged by many hands.