Senior Walmajarri artist Wakartu Cory Surprise was born in the Great Sandy Desert circa 1929. These are close to words:
“Tapu that’s my fathers’ country… Kutal my mothers’ country… my parents died when I was a baby. I grew up at Wayampajarti… that’s my country now. I was born in the desert: I was born at Tapu. I don’t remember my mummy or daddy… they were finished up in the desert. When I was crawling I went to Christmas Creek. My sister-in-law Trixie took me. I was promised to one old man… he had two wives. We had no clothes when we came in. We were frightened of the Station manager, we ran away from that place. Two times we ran away to the desert. I went to the desert with my husband we looked for Pijaju Peter Skipper out there, then we all came back for ceremony.
My husband was working contract. I followed my husband on his contracts… fencer him. I worked as camp cook… big mobs I cooked for. We did fencing at Quanbun Downs, Jubilee Station, Yiyily, Cherrabunn Station. I got sick of that station… big one work… I worked so hard… I ran away. I did cleaning, cooking, milking goats.
Me walk out from bush last time… young woman me… with my two brothers. We were living at Wayampajarti and around that country there. At Wayampajarti there is a jila (waterhole)… that’s the place for Kalpartu (an ancestral snake). When we lived out bush we got to know law. We got to know where the water is and where our country is… where to find food. You got to be careful not to go to the wrong places… you might make the kalpurtu (spirit snake) angry or them other ones like kukurr, murungkurr, parlangan. You could make other people angry too. You need permission to go to other people’s country.
I worked at lots of places: Christmas Creek Station, Cherrabunn Station, Quanbun Downs, Jubilee Downs Station, then I live mainly at one place, Go Go Station (near Fitzroy Crossing) until I got old.
I come to Fitzroy Crossing in the 1950’s. I got big mob of kids… some of them finish up now.
I first started painting at Karrayili Adult Education Centre in the early eighties. We told our stories through painting and learned to speak to Kartiya (non aboriginal person). I also did painting at Bayulu community near Fitzroy Crossing. That’s how I told my story to kartiya. We worked on paper then, not canvas, not board.
When I paint, I think about my country, and where I have been travelling across that country. I paint from here (points to head-thinking about country) and here (points to breasts, collarbone and shoulder blades-which is a reference to body painting). I think about my people the old people and what they told me, I think about jumangkarni (Dreamtime).
Nobody taught me how to paint, I put down my own ideas, I saw these places for myself, I went there with the old people. I paint jilji (sand hills), jumu (soak water), jila (spring), jiwari (rock hole), pamarr (hills and rock country), I think about mangarri (vegetable food) and kuyu (game) from my country and when I was there. When I paint I am thinking about law from a long time ago, I am thinking about the country, my country. When I first painted we didn’t get money, nothing. I like painting, its good, I get pamarr (word for rock, stone money) for it, I can buy my food, tyres, fix my car, I give some money to family and I keep some for me.”
The following details are from the Queensland Art Gallery/GOMA web entry for their exhibition “Contemporary Australia: Women”
“Wakartu Cory Surprise was one of the great painters of the Mangkaja Arts Centre in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia. Her bold, abstract works are joyful and vivid explorations of the spirit and of the features of her country. Essential to the paintings of Wakartu Cory Surprise was her knowledge of her country, Wayampajarti, and her father’s country, Tapu, which she learnt through extensive travel across the desert in the Kimberley, Western Australia. She painted important landmarks from these journeys, such as pamarr (rocky hills), and jila (permanent waterholes) — sources of fresh water where the ancestral spirit snake Kalpurtu lives. A scarce resource in the desert, Surprise’s knowledge of the exact location of available fresh water was vital to survival.
Surprise’s deep knowledge of the desert environment and its law remained essential elements of her work and she painted about them until her last days. In her last year, Surprise accepted the invitation to participate in ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’ and this selection of her works includes some of the last that she painted. Her work is distinct from other artists from the Kimberley largely due to her innate sense of structure and unique mix of colour and contrasts. There is a courageous feel to Wakartu Cory Surprise’s work — large sections of bold colour are confidently divided by broad, painted lines in singing colours.”
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