This education kit was produced for the exhibition Our spirits lie in the water (Art Gallery of NSW, 15 Nov 2014 – 1 Nov 2015). It presents a selection of focus works grouped according to four exhibition themes, along with questions and activities for students in Years K-12.

Click on an image to view the work in the Gallery collection and for more information (including medium and dimensions and the artist’s language group).

This place, the creek and water, we love this country, we Aboriginal people. We love it. The old people were the same, attached to this land. The old people, our grandfathers and grandmothers, great grandparents, our ancestors, they lived here in this place, put here for them. That’s how we talk about our land. Our spirits lie in the water. When we camp by the creek it soothes our spirits and keeps us cool. - Ivan Namirrkki 2003

This evocative quote by the Kuninjku artist Ivan Namirrkki speaks of the innate attachment Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to country and to water. Water exists in myriad forms, with its movement across country and in the sea informing relationships between people, the availability of resources and the presence of unseen forces that shape the land.

This exhibition from the Gallery’s collection examines the diverse ways our artists explore the notion of water. The works range from intricate depictions of sea life to maps of living water that is life sustaining, the renewal of seasonal change and the role of water in the transmission of knowledge through life. Complex understandings of water and of country are embedded within each work. Drawn from across the country and from the 1930s to the present, the works are evidence of the vast knowledge Indigenous people have of water.

Depictions of the atmospheric effects of water and light in their many manifestations; whether the shimmering reflections of wet snake scales shining through water, light refracted through raindrops or the pearlescent qualities of moonlight streaming down a dry creek-bed at night time; each expresses the artist's intimate knowledge and love of country.

Cornelia Tipuamantumirri
Winga (Tidal movement, waves) 2012

Cornelia Tipuamantumirri is a Tiwi artist based at Pularumpi on Melville Island. The Tiwi people of Bathurst and Melville Island have a distinct culture and they share a visual language known as jilamara (design) based on the countless configurations of mulypinyini pwanga (lines and dots). Tipuamantumirri began painting in 2010 and her works offer an impressionistic view of country.

Winga (Tidal movement, waves) focuses on the movement of water and the changes this brings, both in terms of the silt that is moved by waves altering the coastline and the varying sea life that accompanies the incoming and outgoing tides. In the Tiwi tradition, Tipuamantumirri’s works are painted with a wooden kayimwagamiki (comb), to create lines of ochre dots, in subtle variations of colour and intensity. On the deep black background these undulating lines create areas of shifting light and movement, reminiscent of the play of sunlight on the sea and the tidal movements of water itself.

Questions and activities

Describe this painting. Identify elements that remind you of the movement of water. How has the artist used rhythm, repetition and pattern to suggest this? How has she created the marks? Explain how her use of colour contributes to the overall effect.

Create an artwork in response to your own environment. Use a viewfinder to select a section of water such as the ocean, a river or swimming pool. Do a continuous line drawing. Copy your drawing onto scratch foam board or lino and make a series of prints on paper. Try printing the same image with black ink on white paper and with white ink on black paper.

Respond to the patterns and rhythms of Winga (Tidal movement, waves) using sound. Mimic the progress of your eye across the canvas by tapping sticks to mark the divisions of space. Try moving from left to right, top to bottom, noticing the different rhythms created. Choose percussive instruments such as shakers, castanets, clap sticks, drums and brushes, which suit different sections. Distribute them among four people and orchestrate a musical interpretation of this painting.

Malaluba Gumana
Garrimala 2007

Garrimala refers to a billabong close to Malaluba Gumana’s homeland of Gängan. Dominating the work are realistic representations of dhatam, the waterlily plant, scaling the entire form of the larrkitj, while the leaves of the plant clasp the sides. Delicate miny'tji (clan designs) are set behind these graceful forms to represent djari (rainbows) and the power of lightning infused within them.

Garrimala is particularly imporant to Gumana’s mother’s Galpu clan and is connected to Wititj (an olive python commonly referred to as the rainbow serpent). Djayku (the Javanese filesnake) is a companion and possible alternate incarnation of Wititj and lives amongst the dhatam, causing ripples or rainbows on the surface of the water. The sun shining on the scales of Wititj also give the appearance of rainbows. Wititj is associated with the beginning of the wet season when square shaped clouds begin to form and lightning strikes are common.

Questions and activities

Describe the shape of this larrakitj. Notice the surface and colours. How has the paint been applied? What kind of a tool has been used? How has the artist adapted her imagery to the form of the larrakitj?

Locate the root and flower of the dhatam on this artwork. How did you identify them? Count the number of leaves you can see. Is there any pattern, symmetry or repetition to their arrangement?

Look for transient atmospheric effects in your environment such as rainbows, sun shining through mist, heat haze or sparkles on the surface of water. Observe closely and develop an image that suggests one such effect. Consider how you will use colour, tone and line to communicate your experience.

Watch the video and discuss the process used to create a larrakitj. Consider the important role of the art centres such as the Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre in providing support for the creation of artworks such as Garimala.

Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri
Kooralia 1980

Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri was born in Napperby Creek and grew up around Napperby Station in Anmatyerr country to the north west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Tjapaltjarri moved to Papunya with his young family in he late 1950s and was known in the region as an exceptional craftsman prior to the beginnings of the Papunya Tula art movement. Tjapaltjarri was central to this movement and encouraged his younger ‘brother’ Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri to join the painting mob.

Kooralia offers a view of Tjapaltjarri’s birthplace, in Napperby Creek. Alternating bands of colour show the ripples of sand in the creek bed, surrounding which are a number of other sites with varying topographies or vegetation. As with many of Tjapaltjarri’s works, this painting offers an atmospheric view of country, with a ray on moonlight falling across the dry creekbed and gently illuminating its course through the centre of the work. Kooralia is connected to the Seven Sisters constellation or Pleiades.

Questions and activities

Does this painting remind you of night time? If so, how has the artist achieved this? Describe the colours and mood of the work. Find the moonbeams shining on the creek bed.

Name the shapes you can see. Count the concentric circles. How many lines of symmetry can you find? Are there smaller sections within this painting that have their own lines of symmetry? Use a viewfinder to locate them.

Describe how Kooralia demonstrates the artist’s interest in portraying atmospheric night effects. Examine the colour combinations and brushwork. How are line, focal point, repetition and composition used to create a potent sense of place?

Seasonal change is dramatic, particularly in northern Australia with the baking sun of the dry season parching the earth, drying vegetation and forcing animal life to find scarce water supplies. This gives way to the oppressive build-up of the wet when dramatic clouds begin to form, humidity rises and, some believe, tempers flare. Relief is brought by the deluge of wet season rainfall that replenishes country, fills watercourses and brings new life to the region - lush vegetation and a marked increase in wildlife. Many artists explore this cycle of change and regeneration within their work.

Ginger Riley Munduwalawala
Nyamiyukanji, the river country 1997
Ngak Ngak and the ruined city 1998

In Nyamiyukanji, the river country, Ginger Riley Munduwalawala depicts the dramatic rock formations known as the Ruined City that rear up out of the Gulf country landscape. This is Riley's grandfather's country, near the Nathan River. As in many of his works, Riley has painted the rocky outcrops and surrounding land in bands across the painting, while the river winds diagonally up to the sea. At the top of the painting, the bright blue sky, which is not differentiated from the sea at the mouth of the river, has large, wet season clouds raining on the landscape. In Riley's work, clouds or the sun usually represent his mother. Ngak Ngak appears in the foreground and, on the right, Garimala travels across the country. This place exists in Riley's creation knowledge as much as it does in the landscape. In the work Ngak Ngak and the ruined city he has depicted the same country during the dry season.

Riley painted, he has said, as if he was, '... on a cloud, on top of the world, looking down ... From the top I can see country right down to where I come from'.

Questions and activities

Look at these two works by Ginger Riley Munduwalawala. Identify which painting represents the wet season and which the dry season in Munduwalawala’s country. How does each painting depict a different season? Identify similarities and differences between the paintings.

Name the colours you can see in each painting and describe the way the artist has applied the paint. Is it thick or thin? Consider the composition of each work. Find the four elements relating to Munduwalawala’s country: Ngak Ngak the sea eagle, the Limmen Bight river, Garimala the double snake and the Four Archers rock formations.

Study these two paintings of different seasons and select music that matches their different moods. Would it be energetic or quiet, happy or sad, loud or soft? Listen to a variety of music including classical, pop and rock. Discuss the tempo, rhythm and melody of each different piece. Match a piece of music to each painting and explain your choice.

How is seasonal change expressed in your environment? Paint a landscape you know well from memory in two different seasons. Consider the geography, landmarks, colours, atmosphere and light. Display them side by side and discuss the results.

Yvonne Koolmatrie
Eel trap 2013

Yvonne Koolmatrie has lived all her life in Ngarrindjeri country, which ranges from the Coorong, a wetland wilderness at the mouth of the Murray River, upstream to the present-day farming communities of the lower Murray Riverland. She is known for her innovative woven forms, which are drawn from traditional Ngarrindjeri weaving and employ the coil-bundle technique. Koolmatrie learnt this technique at a workshop run by community elder Dorothy Kartinyeri in 1982, where she was also taught in the correct harvesting and preparation of sedge grass. In the once fertile environment of the Riverland, now degraded by intensive agricultural practice, suitable supplies of rushes are rare. When collecting her materials, Koolmatrie is mindful to guard the location of her source and to carefully harvest the rushes so the roots and younger plants are not disturbed.

Questions and activities

Explain how this eel trap would work. Find out about fishing technology developed by Ngarrindjeri people and the species of fish and eels they catch. Research Indigenous, common and scientific names for plants important to the people of the Coorong such as the sedge rushes (Lepidosperma canesens) used by Yvonne Koolmatrie. Investigate the different uses for these plants. Are any of these species now endangered? Why?

Map the extent of Ngarrindjeri country, from the Coorong to the lower Murray Riverland. Research the Coorong National Park and name the different species of birds, fish and animals found in this environment. What is unique about this area? What environmental difficulties does this area face today? Find out about the causes and possible solutions to these problems.

Comment on the physical qualities of this artwork. Analyse it in terms of its formal sculptural elements such as scale, shape, texture, colour, materials and volume. Look closely at the pattern of stitching and tying. Consider the delicacy and resilience of the materials and imagine the labour-intensive process of its creation. How does the subtle smell and soft colours of the eel trap evoke the wetlands where the materials come from? Speculate on how your response to this object may change if you viewed it in a museum rather than an art gallery? Explain your reasons.

Jimmy Njiminjuma
Ngalyod - the rainbow serpent c1985

Ngalyod is the name used in Western Arnhem land for the being commonly referred to as the rainbow serpent. The creator and protector of all djang or sacred places, Ngalyod is associated with the cycles of human life and natural regeneration. Ngalyod has powers of creation and destruction and is most strongly associated with rain, monsoon seasons and rainbows, which are a manifestation of Ngalyod’s supremecy and presence. Ngalyod’s presence within waterholes or billabongs, may also be indicated through the presences of waterlillies, the leaves of which are attached to the body of Ngalyod in this work.

Questions and activities

Is this painting representational or abstract, portrait or landscape? What associations come to mind when you look at it? Analyse its formal elements such as line, shape, colour and pattern. Examine the surface of the bark from far away and close up. Is it completely flat? How does this surface contribute to the character of the work?

Find out about the wet season in Njiminjuma’s country in Arnhem Land. Identify features of this season in terms of weather events, changes in the landscape and the activity of plants and animals. Collect photos of the region and its flora and fauna from books or the internet and arrange them according to season.

Investigate snakes in different cultures and religions and report on the power and symbolism they have.

Water covers more than 70% of the earth’s surface and exists in myriad forms within our environment; as freshwater, saltwater, still, moving, spray, ice, steam, vapour and rain.
Water shapes the landscape through its movement across country, while the weather effects the state and presence of this water within country. Water informs how people live on country, where deep or ‘sweet’ water that is life sustaining may be located or where water is salty or silty and cannot be relied upon. Within their works, artists document the complex nature of water, exposing the intimate knowledge they have of the landscape in which they live.

Judy Watson
red tides 1997

Much of Judy Watson’s work is informed by the environmental or events that risk the delicate balance of the nature. Watson made red tides 1997 in response to reports of red algae blooms appearing in Sydney Harbour due to too much nitrogen in the water. Turning the Harbour red, this reminded Watson of whaling and the sites of Aboriginal massacres where the waters ran red with blood. For Watson it is this history that ‘seeps down ... soaks into the ground’ and remains ever present in the landscape. red tides and deadly bloom 1997 were created for the exhibition fluent at the 1997 Venice Biennale.

Questions and activities

Notice the colours, shapes and patterns in this work. Look closely at the surface and name the materials this work is made from. How does it remind you of water?

Take rubbings from textured surfaces in your environment such as tiled walls, concrete or floors, fabrics, raised lettering, coins or car tyres. Select interesting areas and cut them out. Arrange these fragments to create a balanced composition and glue them down. Dribble watery paint onto the page and gently rub it in, working the colour into the cracks. Once dry repeat with similar colours to build up a layered surface. Talk about how this image relates to your environment.

Judy Watson is interested in history and archaeology. Find images of sedimentary layers of rock and learn about the geological processes by which they are formed. How are the actions of water involved? Learn about gold, where it is found, its physical and chemical properties and the uses it has in our world.

Watson comes from the Waanyi people who are known as ‘running water people’. Water is a
powerful symbol and metaphor in her work. Her process of artmaking relies on the properties of
water as she lets the pigment and paint find its way across the topography of the canvas, pooling and bleeding. What ideas are evoked through her use of water? Consider and list the ideas that water can symbolise. Research the symbolism of water in Aboriginal and European art.

Charlie Tararu Tjungurrayi
Wati G'wala (Iceman) dreaming 1989

In Wati G'wala (Iceman) dreaming Charlie Tararu Tjungurrayi depicts his birthplace at Tjitururrunga, a rockhole and craggy outcrop due west of Sandy Blight Junction, in Western Australia. Tjitururrunga is a cold misty place associated with the haze and frost of the desert winter and is home to Wati G’wala whose presence is marked in the landscape and who resides in a cave at the site. Wati G’wala is sometimes referred to as a giver of artefacts - perhaps in reference to stone flakes used in tool making which are split off by extreme icy temperatures. His home is the keeping place of semi-precious white stones which are synonomous with ice. The feet of Wati G’wala are splintered with ice and bear the scars of walking across this harsh terrain as seen on the feet of his brilliant white form.

Questions and activities

Look at this painting and find the feet and scars of Wati G’wala, the iceman. Describe the colours and mood of the painting. What elements suggest the cold of the desert in winter?

List as many different states of water as you can and describe the properties of each. Create an artwork that suggests one or more states of water.

Though the desert is not usually thought of as a cold place, it is a place of extreme temperatures. At one time the desert was covered with ice. Research the climatic and geological history of Australia and present your findings to the class.

The locations of water within country, determine the manner in which people travel across country and have been developed over for countless generations of lived experience, gaining intimate knowledge of the landscape. Water site, whether these be rivers, waterholes or deep underground water, hold special significance and are often connected to important beings or events, whose actions shape country and inform relationships to this country in the present.

John Mawurndjul
Buluwana 2002

John Mawurndjul describes himself as a 'chemist', his creative process achieved through 'some kind of magic'. Throughout his career Mawurndjul has consistently abstracted the forms of the beings he depicts, merging their bodies with the landscape, as can be seen in the work Buluwana 2002.

Buluwana was one of the first people to inhabit the Kurulk clan region at Ngandarrayo. The Ngandarrayo site is on a large escarpment outlier. The camping places along this outlier are rich in rock art. During the time of great drought, Buluwana and her family were camped at Ngandarrayo. They were weak from thirst, and close to death, when the group was confronted by the malevolent form of the death adder. Buluwana tried to run away with the rest of her family, but was crushed and turned to stone. An arrangement of rocks still remains in the ground as Buluwana's present-day form. Only her head protrudes as a prismic standing stone, the rest of her body is under the ground. The Ngandarrayo site is a place of great significance to people of the Kurulk and Kulmarru clans.

Questions and activities

Describe what you can see in this artwork, noticing colour, line, pattern and shape. Imagine the kinds of movements the artist used for the fine cross hatching, called rarrk. Act them out. Using a fine brush, pen or sharp pencil, make intricate line patterns on a large sheet of paper. Do you need to work quickly or slowly to create these marks? Do you use your whole body or just your wrist?

Describe how a sense of place is evoked through the use of imagery and materials. This painting depicts a landscape defined by the absence of water. Create an artwork that conveys an idea of dryness. Consider the materials and forms you will use.

Describe the qualities of line, colour, geometric form, optical effect and composition. Outline how the artist has created a sense of energy and dynamism. Is this a landscape painting or a portrait? Locate the presence of figurative and landscape elements within this painting. Discuss your findings.

Lola Ryan
Sydney Harbour Bridge 2000

'La Per' women artists from the coastal community of La Perouse in Sydney have been working with and earning an income from shell work for generations, with one of the earliest reports from 1882.
The production of this contemporary shell work is based on traditional knowledge and the continuation of age-old cultural practices where shells were used for tools, fishhooks and decoration.

Collecting shells relies on ancestral knowledge and an intimate link to country, with knowledge of where and when to collect being handed down through countless generations. Lola Ryan, a Tharawal/Eora artist, recalled family trips to collect shells from Cronulla Beach, Boat Harbour, Wanda Beach and as far south as the South Coast to Wreck Bay.

During the 1950s and 1960s La Per women, including Ryan’s mother, exhibited and sold their works at the Royal Easter Show and at markets, fairs and department stalls alongside the men’s work; Ryan remembered going to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Along with her sister Mavis Longbottom, Ryan and many other shell artists learned their practice from the family matriarchs, with family styles and designs often handed down.

Many ‘La Per’ artists, such as Ryan, have worked with iconic images like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and, in doing so, re-craft Australia's image and history and provide a richer understanding of the Sydney landscape.

Questions and activities

Do you recognise this object? Is it a realistic depiction of the original? In what ways is it different? Describe this sculpture in detail, thinking about texture, materials and colour. Describe and draw the different kinds of shells you can see, naming them if you can.

Ryan collected shells on the beach to use in making her artworks. She knew her country very well, knowing the right places to find each different kind of shell in different kinds of weather. Picture a place you know very well and give a verbal account of it to another person, naming every detail you can remember. Ask this person to draw the place based on your description. Assess how well the results match your mental image.

Explore the iconographic implications of this object. Consider Australian identity, history and aspirations. What does it mean to re-make this object in the materials of a practice specific to this site for thousands of years? What different systems of knowledge are represented? Does this work challenge or subvert the dominant culture? Debate these ideas in class.

Yukultji Napangati
Untitled 2005

Yukultji Napangati is among the generation of female artists from Kiwirrkura who have emerged as a significant force within the Papunya Tula Artists collective in the last decade. Recognised for their ethereal minimalism, these artists are working in sharp contrast to the older generation of female artists whose work is exemplified by bold use of colour and rough, liberal use of paint. They are also building upon the minimal qualities of men's work which rely on the use of alternating bands of colour for optical effect.

In this painting, Napangati refers to the rockhole site of Marapinti, situated in a creek, west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. Within the work, the undulating lines that traverse the canvas in swathes are reminiscent of desert haze or the sandy undulations of the vast desert landscape. These lines refer to the underground tubers of the yunala or bush potato that can be found at Marapinti and the innumerable tali or sandhills that surround the area.

Questions and activities

Describe and count the colours and patterns you can see in this artwork. Notice the lines and ridges created by the repetition of lines. What does this painting tell you about the artist’s country? Keeping your eyes on the painting, move your head from side to side and up and down. What visual effects does this create? Create your own powerful optical effect using repetition of patterns and lines.

Find out about the Western Desert and compare it to where you live. Make a series of paintings showing that place. Choose a natural or constructed surface from your environment and study it closely using a magnifying glass. Make a detailed drawing of what you see and then enlarge it on a photocopier. Create multiple copies and glue them onto a large sheet to make a field of patterning. Discuss how this image relates to your original drawing.

Describe the mood of this artwork. Is it static or dynamic? How does the use of colour and line create rhythm and energy? Describe how the visual power of this image evokes the vastness of country and the power of culture. Create an artwork that employs patterning and repetition to express the idea of power and celebration.

Think of a place that is important to you and develop your own design that employs patterning and repetition to represent ideas about this place. Repeat the shape to create a pattern. Experiment with bold, contrasting colour schemes to create a work that has optical effects, like movement and visual static. Try painting this pattern onto different surfaces.