Ginger Nobby Wikilyiri is an Australian

Aboriginal art Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving ...

ist from

Nyapaṟi, South Australia Nyapaṟi is an Aboriginal community in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. It is located about south of the Northern Territory border at the base of the Mann Ranges. The nearby community of Kanpi is to the we ...

Life

Wikilyiri was born around 1932, in the desert of north-western

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The place where he was born is Kunamata, a

rock hole A panhole is a depression or basin eroded into flat or gently sloping cohesive rock.Twidale, C.R., and Bourne, J.A., 2018''Rock basins (gnammas) revisited. ''Géomorphologie: Relief, Processus, Environnement, Articles sous presse, Varia, mis en l ...

south of what is now the community of Nyapaṟi. His father had three wives, and Wikilyiri is the son of the second wife. He has an elder sister, Wingu, who was borne to his father's first wife. Wikilyiri and his family, who are

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...

, were all born and lived in the bush, living a traditional way of life. After settling at Ernabella, Wikilyiri worked in

land management Land management is the process of managing the use and development (in both urban and rural settings, but it is mostly managed in Urban places.) of land resources. Land resources are used for a variety of purposes which may include organic agricul ...

and

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. He worked for many years as a ranger for

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The park is home to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. It is located south of Darwin by road and south-west of Alice Springs along the Stuart and Lasseter ...

, living at Mutitjulu.

Artwork

Wikilyiri paints stories from his Dreaming, the

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

that defines his

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

with the land. The Dreaming associated with his birthplace, Kunumata, carries the ' (a kind of

python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

) as its

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the wo ...

. Wikilyiri's paintings depict sacred legends about his

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

s and how they created the land around Kunumata. He also paints similar stories about Piltati, another rock hole nearby and a sacred site for Pitjantjatjara men.

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

dominates many of Wikilyiri's major paintings, which is an unusual choice of colour for the Western Desert style of art. His work has been shown in major

exhibitions An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery An art gallery is a roo ...

in many cities around Australia and other countries. Examples are held in the National Gallery of Victoria, the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

, the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, and the National Gallery of Australia. Paintings by Wikilyiri were chosen as finalists for the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wikilyiri, Ginger 1932 births Living people Australian painters Indigenous Australian artists Artists from South Australia Pitjantjatjara people