I’ve Been Working on All These Things

This Ngaanyatjarra man was born close to Warburton Ranges and during his early years lived as a true desert nomad. In later years he came to the mission at Warburton Ranges and worked on many different things during his long life. He was always a strong and good man and worked very hard to build up his community. This painting shows mining claims and other locations near Warburton Ranges where the artist worked, and it also shows traditional sacred places in the Ngaanyatjarra landscape and therefore records a relationship of two worlds, one referring to a traditional life and the other the early inroads of Western culture. The question for him was often how you make those two worlds fit together.