CHAPMAN MARNEY YATES 2010.422

A stark environment of white land and white sky in white heat, Lake Dora (Ngayarta Kujarra) is a vast salt lake 1300 kilometres north-east of Perth. The lake has been painted by four sisters who live close to its shores: it is at the heart of their lives and practice. The artists have a profound respect for the lake and the fresh waters that have sustained their families for generations, and they painted the story of this important site to remind people of the 'pujiman days', the times of living nomadically. Collective stories, carried in unbroken tradition through songs and dances, are now brought to new life through painted images. For the three older artists, this project was a way of inducting their younger sister, Malatu, into what country she could paint and how to paint it.