Muuki Taylor

This painting depicts Kulyakartu, an area in the far north of the Martu homelands, near the Percival Lakes in the northern Great Sandy Desert. The artist has extensive knowledge of the country in this region. He grew up living traditionally during the pujiman (bush) days with his family.Kulyakartu is mostly grass country where there is very good hunting. There is no permanent water around so the family would come up here after the wet season. The artist enjoys painting the grass country in all its different stages. After rain when it is nice and Yukiri (green), when it is a little bit dry and then when it is dry, this was probably about the time that the family would head south again to more permanent water. He also paints the country after the effects of fire; while the Martu people are hunting they also burn the grasses. As they generally hunt at different times and the fires generally aren’t too big the country starts to regenerate at different times leaving a fantastic patchwork of growth. This burning practice encourages greater diversity in plant and animal life in those areas.