Mt Zeil, Central Australia 2021

Mervyn Rubuntja was born in 1958 at the Telegraph Station in Alice Springs. When Rubuntja was 13 years old, his family moved to Hermannsburg. There, he saw his first examples of watercolour painting as he watched his uncles Maurice, Oscar and Keith Namatjira painting like their famous father, Albert. Rubuntja’s family moved back to Alice Springs in 1975, and he began to paint with Basil Rantji, who taught him how to mix colours.

In 2016, Mervyn Rubuntja and artists Dellina Inkamala and Hubert Pareroultja, from Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre, participated in a highly successful printmaking workshop. Four years later, they attended a week-long etching intensive with Cicada Press at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Rubuntja used the skills he acquired through these workshops to make this print.

In this work, Rubuntja has depicted Urlatherrke, known also as Mt Zeil, situated in the western end of the West MacDonnell Ranges. Significant to Urlatherrke is the ayeparenye caterpillar, which journeys from this site to Anthwerrke (Emily Gap).