Medium: Terracotta and ceramic underglazes.

Description:

The artist has painted a creation story associated to the site of site of Wurrapa, just east of Palm Valley, on the Finke River.

“A man and his son, who was a young man, lived at Wurrapa (just east of Palm Valley, on the Finke River). The father sent his son out to hunt, day after day.

But one day a boogie man killed the son. He lay dead on the ground.

As his son did not return, the father wondered, “He’s not come back!” The father waited at camp, then he went out looking for his son.

The son lay there. Maggots crept up to his body.

Now the father was close by, lying on the ground. The maggots crawled towards him, and came to his feet. Father got up. He saw them.

Then he ate them, ate and ate. Soon he saw his son lying there nearby.

The father vomited up. At this the son came to life.

The man took his son back to the camp, and put him in some healing smoke.

That done, the man went to take his revenge on the boogie man. He made spears, from the palm trees. Then he went. As he went up the slopes, he turned into a bird, a tawny frogmouth. He flew to the top of the range.

Ah, he spotted the boogie man. He speared him, and speared him again and again, then hit him and finished him off. The boogie man lay there, then, at that place: Iltaara Tharra.

That’s where we see foot tracks in the red sandstone to this day.”

– Anita Mbitjana Ratara