As an artist, Sylvaria Napurrurla Walker stands on the shoulders of a renowned family of Utopian painters.
This painting depicts the Red Malee, a Dreaming she inherited from her grandmother Topsy Pwerle Jones, who with her aunt Joycelyn Petyarre Jones influenced Sylvaria's evocative feathery compositional style.
The Jitilypuru, or Red Malee flower is a species of Eucalyptus species (Eucalyptus rhodantha) found in the desert, traditionally used by the Indigenous Australian people as a sweetener. It has few, yet long-lived flowers - lasting 20-30 days, and daily producing large amount of nectar. Flowering occurs between March and November, peaking in the winter months of June to August.
Sylvia’s colour and scale dynamics here beautifully convey delight in this vibrant, fragrant flower amid its arid landscape. Through its image, the artist expresses her and her community's connection with Country and its bright, sweet gifts.
Photo credit: www.malleenativeplants.com.au
Jitilypuru Jukurrpa by Sylvaria Napurrurla Walker, detail.
Dreamtime is the English translation of the word Jukurrpa, with a meaning encompassing the creation myths and transmitted memories of the Indigenous Australian people, an immemorial expressive tradition. Jukurrpa is so intrinsically connected with this 40,000 year old community's history and wisdom that the most accurate way of translating it has been to allude to our sense of the formative intangible experience, memory, the divine, the imagination, the dream that inspires creation.
"Our Art is born from the dreams of each artist and the intense colours we see in our land... Through dreams, we can enter the other – parallel – world, in which since creation, gods, spirits and men have lived together." **
Every artist has a Dreaming, which they will interpret throughout their life, enjoying their connection to their dream and the keys they hold to community life.
Jitilypuru Jukurrpa by Sylvaria Napurrurla Walker, detail.
** Quoted from the excellent documentary The Men of the Fifth World: