May Chapman

This painting depicts some rockholes surrounded by extensive tali (sandhills) in the artist’s country. Rockhole’s, waterholes, soaks and springs were important sites for Martu people during pujiman (bush) days. The Martu lived very nomadically moving from water source to water source hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. They would traverse very large distances visiting some areas in the dry and some in the wet season depending on the availability of water. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of country creating a larger diversity of plant and animal life. Tali are a very dominant feature of the Western desert landscape where the Martu people live and as a result often feature in their paintings along with watersources.