Ian Rictor

The artist :
Ian Rictor is wati Anangu, a Pitjantjatjara man from the Great Victorian Desert area of Western Australia. His small family group is the last of the known Aboriginal people to have remained living traditionally in the Western Desert, ‘emerging’ in 1986. He has been an artist with the Spinifex Arts Project since it began in 1997. Ian Rictor resides in the remote community of Tjuntjuntjara with his wife Kathleen Kanta Donnegan and extended family. His skills have been passed on through the Tjukurpa, the Law and way of life governing his country.
Ian was born in 1955 and is from Tjuntjuntjara, WA.

Notes :
Known collectively as punu, the carvings of Anangu (Central and Western Desert Aboriginal people) have their beginnings in the Tjukurpa when the Creation Ancestors fashioned the first weapons and tools, setting down the laws and conventions of their design.
The Central and Western Desert kali or boomerang is a non-returning one and usually crafted from wanari, mulga wood. It is used for hunting and fighting and in pairs as a percussive instrument for inma or ceremony. Size and shape differ according to the individual craftsman.
“Watingku pungkula tjilpirpungkula kutjarara irira, ayi – mira mira wirura mulapa.” Anangu wati tjilpi
‘A man strikes and splits the wood in two, trims it back, exclaiming with pride – paying close attention to his expert crafting.’ Senior Aboriginal man