Object of the Week: Kurtal

An azure blue circle becomes a stop sign in this canvas now on view in Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water at SAM through May 30. The circle is a jila, or sacred waterhole, in the Great Sandy Desert that you do not dare get too close to. Kurtal is the moral protector of this source of water and can be seen as a swirling black snake. In the painting, Kurtal has called in clouds which appear as horseshoe shapes set against the sky to unleash rain which enables dots of bush onions to grow around the waterhole.

ArtistNgilpirri Spider Snell was once part of a remarkable act of activist painting in 1997 when he joined 42 others to paint a giant canvas mapping all the waterholes and major features of their country around Lake Prinini. It became a document in an appeal for native title legislation and was presented to the Australian government in Canberra where Spider danced on it, wearing a headdress in the shape of a long rain cloud, and revealing his renowned position as a ceremonial dancer.  

For the next ten years, this canvas, called the Ngararra Canvas, traveled around Australia and Spider often appeared as part of the delegation to explain what features of the country were being claimed. 

By 2007, a Native Title settlement confirmed that what outsiders called “stories” were legal documents, and that paintings were evidence to prove land ownership. Soon thereafter, a major victory gave 80,000 kilometers of land back to its original owners. However, Kurtal’s site was not included, and Spider continued to agitate—taking his grandson back to visit Kurtal in 2015—a trip that became the centerpiece of a film whose clip gives a brief glimpse of his allegiance to the snake spirit and the enormous power he unleashed in the year before his death.

For an account from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about how the large group painting became an activist force for legal change, this short segment follows the painting back to Lake Prinini with some of the painters in 2018.

– Pam McClusky, SAM Oliver E. and Pamela F. Cobb Curator of African Art

Image: Kurtal, 2005, Ngilpirri Spider Snell, (1930-2016), Australian Aboriginal, Wangkajungua People, Fitzroy Crossing, Kimberley, Western Australia, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 83 7/8 x 59 13/18 inches (213 x 152 cm.), Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, 2019.20.14.

Object of the Week: Leaves

White flecks on a black background, over and over, could be an invitation to savor minimalism, or is it also something else? Viewers have guessed that it is fur, feathers, or seaweed floating in a tide pool.  Then the label gives it away with the title, Leaves, and suddenly you’re watching a maze of leaves fly in the air. An abundance of layered, swirling movement surrounds you. A closer look reveals how strategic the painter is. She places each stroke of paint so carefully that no two leaves merge, but barely touch each other. Something is being said when the crowd is composed of leaf after leaf, each made distinctive with infinitesimal difference.

In the fall season in the Northwest, leaves are letting loose everywhere.  We may notice them as masses, but often may not recognize their other properties. Gloria Petyarre, whose home is in the center of Australia near Alice Springs, is honoring leaves filled with medicine. She was taught by her mother to mix fat from kangaroos and echidnas with crushed leaves to make an ointment to apply to one’s face and hair. The ointment carries a powerful aroma and is a potent aid in helping fight off colds. Kurrajong, the source of the leaves, is also known as the perfect shade tree (Brachyohiton Populneus). It is a tree that only grows in the sun, has deep roots to survive droughts, is a host to butterflies, is fire resistant, and drops its leaves only in dry winters.

Petyarre’s family is famous for painting to enlighten outsiders about their knowledge of their homeland. Her shimmering waves of leaves—created by powerful ancestors—convey their value in her interactive world. Now is the ideal time to take a hint from her and appreciate leaves for the botanical wonder they offer.

– Pam McClusky, Oliver E. and Pamela F. Cobb Curator of African and Oceanic Art

Images: Leaves, 2002, Gloria Tamerr Petyarre, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 70 7/8 x 157 1/2 in., Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, in honor of Virginia and Bagley Wright, and in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum, 2012.21 © Gloria Petyarre.

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