Piti (collecting bowl)

The piti or wooden bowl is a traditional woman’s carrying vessel for food and water. Contemporary artists use walka, patterns burnt into the wood with wire heated on a wood fire. These relate Tjukurpa, stories about the Tjukuritja (Creation Ancestors) and the activities which shaped the land, the people and their law. Many of the details of Tjukurpa are restricted to senior custodians so it is not possible to describe the full story behind the walka.

 

Morita Ward hasn’t elaborated on the story of this walka, unusual for its minimalism. Circles can be waterholes, campsites, eggs or headrings. U-shapes can be the figures of seated women. In telling stories, women sit drawing with sticks in the sand as they talk and they say walka is like this, the rhythmic strokes that accompany stories.

 

Morita Ward is Yarnangu, an Aboriginal person from the Western Desert area. Born in Kalgoorlie she grew up on the Ngaanyatjarra Lands and paints with Tjarlirli Arts in Tjukurla. She also spends time in Warakurna and Kaltukatjara (Docker River). She began working with Maruku in 2019 after watching and working with her aunty since she was a young girl.