Kangkura-KangkuraKu Tjukurpa - A Sister's Story

Ken Family Collaborative (6 Artists)

Freda Brady
Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia
27 June 1961

Sandra Ken
Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia
1968
Tjungkara Ken
Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia
1 October 1969

Paniny Mick
Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia
1 January 1939 – 24 February 2022

Maringka Tunkin
Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia
1959

Yaritji Tingila Young
Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia
1956


Kangkura-KangkuraKu Tjukurpa - A Sister's Story
2017
synthetic polymer paint on linen, 3 panels
Place made
Amata, Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, South Australia
Medium
synthetic polymer paint on linen, 3 panels
Dimensions
300.0 x 200.0 cm (each)
Credit line
Acquisition through Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art supported by BHP 2018
Accession number
20183P16(1-3)
Provenance
The artists.
Media category
Painting
Collection area
Australian paintings - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Copyright
© Ken Family Collaborative/Copyright Agency

  • Titled ‘A sister’s story’ in Pitjantjatjara, this triptych was made by the Ken family – sisters Yaritji Tingila Young, Maringka Tunkin, Sandra Ken, Freda Brady and Tjungkara Ken, and their mother Paniny Mick. They are part of a desert art tradition, a distinct lineage formed initially by women under the name of Minymaku Arts (meaning ‘belonging to women’), twenty years ago in Amata in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands of South Australia.

    The Ken family often paint familiar and familial subjects in their collaborations; by way of example, the Tjala Tjukurpa (Honey Ant creation story) and the Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters creation story), two stories that are their birthright and their bond. These two subjects converge in this work, where one sister’s mark calls for another’s reply, resembling an ancestral call and response. This is an aesthetic kinship, whereby each artist’s voice is amplified and yet nuanced by the next. This is a sister’s story.

    Lisa Slade, Assistant Director, Artistic Programs

  • [Book] AGSA 500.