Kathleen PETYARRE - Hailstorm Thorny Devil Lizard Dreaming
SOLD
ADG: 3023
DescriptionHailstorm - Thorny Devil Lizard Dreaming, 2002
209 x 46cm
Mountain Devil Lizard (Thorny Devil Lizard)
This work depicts the Mountain Devil Lizard Dreamtime story about an old woman travelling across the Atnangker country outlining the landscape and identifying sacred sites. The Mountain Devil Lizard dreaming story is Kathleen Petyarre’s totem, with the responsibility to look after the lizard.
The Mountain Devil Lizard (Moloch horridus) is a small, colourful lizard that is covered in conical spines in camouflage shades of cream, brown and tan. It grows up to 20cm long and lives in the Utopia region of the Northern Territory in Australia.
The Anmatyerre and Alyawerre people of Utopia have a special dreamtime story about the lizard, believing that the lizard carries coloured ochre (natural earth pigments) in the sack around its neck and is responsible for the distribution of ochre (colour) throughout the desert landscape.
The Mountain Devil Lizard is also known as the Thorny Devil Lizard.
Kathleen Petyarre
Born 1940-
Group Alyawarre
Language Eastern Anmatyerre
Country Atnangkere (Mosquito Bore)
Region Utopia, Northern Territory
Dreamings Mountain Devil Lizard (Thorny Devil Lizard), Awelye (Women’s Ceremony), Country
Kathleen Petyarre was born circa 1940, at the remote location of Atnangkere, an important water soakage for Aboriginal people on the western boundary of Utopia Station, 250 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Kathleen belongs to the Alyawarre / Eastern Anmatyerre clan and speaks Eastern Anmatyerre, with English as her second language. Kathleen, with her daughter Margaret and her sisters, settled at Mosquito Bore, on Utopia Station near her birthplace.
Kathleen was one of the leading Anmatyerre women involved in the successful land claim for the freehold title, which led to the formal hand-over of the Utopia Pastoral Lease back to its traditional owners in 1979.Kathleen's mother and her sisters managed to hold onto their land near Utopia Station, establishing a camp at Atneltyeye (Boundary Bore).
Kathleen's inherited Dreaming stories from her parents include the Mountain Devil Lizard, or Thorny Devil Lizard (Arnkerrthe), Women Hunting Emu, and Dingo (Atnangkerre). Her paintings refer directly to these Dreamings and the associated country around Utopia in the eastern central desert of Australia. A common theme in Kathleen's paintings refer to Arnkerrthe, the Mountain or Thorny Devil Lizard, Moloch horridus, a small lizard which has conical spines on its back and lives in the desert, crossing vast terrain and changing colour according to its environment, like a true chameleon. The enormity of his journeys can be felt in the landscape of Kathleen's works. This important clan country serves not only as a creation site, but a sacred place in which to reconnect with the Ancestral Dreaming through ceremony, and in particular, initiation rites. Kathleen continues to demonstrate her detailed, accurate knowledge and respect of country through her remarkable paintings.
Collections
Paintings Collection of H. M. Queen Elizabeth 11
Holmes a Court Collection
Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Quai Branly, Paris, France
Musée des Confluences, Lyon, France
Kunsthaus – Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, Austria
Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
The Vroom Collection, The Netherlands
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA
Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, California, USA
Harvard University (Peabody-Essex Anthropology and Ethnology Museum), Salem, Massachusetts, USA
Levi-Kaplan Collection, Seattle, Washington, USA
Kluge-Rhue Collection, University of West Virginia VA, USA
Museum Puri Lukisan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
National Gallery of Australia , Canberra ACT, Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney NSW, Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA, Australia
The Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth WA, Australia
Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin NT, Australia
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide SA, Australia
A.T.S.I.C. Collection, Adelaide SA, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC, Australia
University of South Australia Art Museum, Adelaide SA, Australia
Edith Cowan University, Perth WA, Australia
Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier SA, Australia
Commissions
1997 The John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC, Australia
Awards
1996 Winner 13th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Darwin NT
1997 Overall Winner of the Visy Board Art Prize, Barossa Vintage Festival Art Show, Nurioopta SA
1998 Finalist, Seppelts Contemporary Art Award, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney NSW
1998 Winner People's Choice Awards, Seppelts Contemporary Art Award, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, NSW.
Solo Exhibitions
1996 Kathleen Petyarre - Storm in Aknangkerre Country, Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne VIC
1998 Arnkerrthe - My Dreaming, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
1999 Recent Paintings By Kathleen Petyarre, Mary Place, Sydney NSW
2000 Landscape: Truth and Beauty, recent Paintings by Kathleen Petyarre, Alcaston Gallery Melbourne VIC
2000 Kathleen Petyarre, Retrospective Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney NSW
2001 Genius of Place, The Work of Kathleen Petyarre, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney NSW.
