AM 9243/12

The artist has spent most of his life living in his traditional country on the Northern fringes of the Great Sandy Desert Northern Western Australia. His father Billy Thomas (Karnta Karnta) has taught him a great deal about land and its features. This painting shows Kulyayi waterhole, the artist’s birthplace and the place that he is culturally connected to and responsible for. An important part of maintaining country is seasonal burning which clears the dead grasses and gives rise to new grass shoots attracting wildlife back to the country. This work depicts the fires that burn across the many lines of sandhills called ‘Tali’.