Kalaya Ngura (Emu Country) and Mamu (Spirit Figures)

This artwork depicts two stories. One is Carlene’s family’s country which is near Kanpi in the western APY Lands. The emu (kalaya) is the ancestral being who formed that part of the country as it travelled from Kanpi to Watarru. Carlene’s artworks are about tjulpu tjuta (birds).  It is very typical for the kalaya to have many children, like Carlene who had six children when she was a younger woman. People call her Tjulpu Thompson, and she says ”like I did with my children, I now raise chicks every day on canvas and in clay in my work”.

 

The second story is Mamu and has been told to her by her grandfather and grandmother. These mamu are the spirits of the ancestors who appear in the bush at night time. A mamu is a spirit which lives near waterholes. Mamu are usually depicted as bad spirits or monsters in traditional Pitjantjatjara stories, particularly those told to children by adults in order to scare them and thereby keep them close by and safe. Mamu can be dangerous especially for children, they are shape shifters and can appear like animals. Carlene’s mamu have scales, big fluffy ears, claws and a smile. When startled they make a growling sound like a nocturnal gecko called papangaurpa.

 

Carlene Thompson is a senior woman and leading artist in the Ernabella community. At various times she has sat on the Board of Ernabella Arts and was the Chair for several years. She is currently a Board member of Ku Arts. Carlene was born in Finke in 1950. Her late husband, Kunmanara (Kawaki) Thompson OAM, was a highly regarded senior Pitjantjatjara man who was a major figure in the APY Land Rights Movement. Carlene and her husband had one son and five daughters, three of whom also work at the art centre. Carlene started painting at the art centre in 2007 and quickly developed a very individual style, and in 2009 she began to concentrate on ceramics. Her work is contemporary while being based on country. She often tells the story in her artworks of the creation being of her family’s country, the kalaya (emu).