The Seven Sisters, 2009, Wingu Tingima (Roberts)
Synthetic polymer on canvas, set of 3: 61cm x 122cm
Provenance: Papulankutja Artists, Western Australia. Chapman Gallery, Canberra. The Alan Boxer Collection, Canberra. Mossgreen, Melbourne.
Senior Pitjantjara woman, Wingu Tingima grew up in the semi-nomadic tradition of her country. Her ideas presented themselves in her dreams as well as via visits from her totemic eagle Ancestors, who would provide warnings of forthcoming events. Unlike many of her contemporaries Tingima doesn’t depict her country explicitly, preferring to use her cultural knowledge to work symbolically. Even though she only worked for 10 years prior to her death in 2010, she enjoyed significant success and acclaim for her masterful use of colour and fluid style. Her work was included in the landmark show ‘I have a dream’, a tribute to Martin Luther King Jnr held in New York City in 2009 (1).
From the authenticity certificate: This is a popular dreamtime story of seven ladies being chased through the desert by one man. There are numerous scenarios as these ladies travel around. Eventually they rise up into the sky and form the Peliades, a group of seven stars seen in the southern skies. There are many variations of this story.