Walka Board Set – Kamala Tjuta (Camels), 2018

$660.00

  • 20cm x 60cm x 2cm
  • 2018
  • Acrylic paint on plywood
  • Catalog No: 1148-WBS514-18

Walka is Desert design and inextricably linked with Tjukurpa: the Law and way of life of Anangu (Central and Western Desert Aboriginal people). The symbols were traditionally used in cave, ground and body paintings, in story telling, teaching and signalling inheritance. Meaning of the designs depends on its subject and particular people are responsible for their re-creation and teaching according to the Tjukurpa. Highly experienced craftspeople have grown up making traditional tools and weapons under the instruction of their elders. They now apply this knowledge and express their world through art such as this.

Both the dot painting and etching techniques, where walka is burnt into the wood with wire heated on a wood fire, have become Centralian traditions, evolving with the adaptation of traditional design for public display and as a depiction of Tjukurpa and landscape.

In this walka board Judy reflects on some of the change in her country by showing kamala tjuta or camels. Her parents were part of the first generation of people to have contact with non-aboriginal people and Judy remembers travelling with the newly introduced camels cross hundreds of kilometers of country. Imported from British India and Afghanistan for transport and construction, many were released into the wild after motorised transport replaced them. They are now a serious environmental concern as their numbers have reached over a million but many Anangu still look back fondly on their days of camel travel.

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