Myra Cook

Born: Docker River

Date: 1932

Life: Semi-nomadic early Docker River, school at Warburton Mission

Language: Pitjantjatjara



Dreamtime Stories:

Two Sisters

Seven Sisters





Introduction

Myra Cook is a Pitjantjatjara woman born in 1932 who grew up in the Docker River region and was educated at Warburton Mission. Her semi-nomadic lifestyle, like that of the people of Irrunytju, means she often travels and enjoys close relationships with other groups, such as the Ngaanyatjarra and Spinifex communities. Highly social gatherings, they work, talk, dance, sing and discuss sacred women’s business which is passed on from senior women to others. The women’s stories include tales of childbirth, midwifery, ceremony, child-rearing and death.



Her images are informed by her own tjukurpa which have been handed down to her by her family.



Myra Cook is a five star artist with and extraordinary talent.





Dreamtime Stories



Minyma Kutjara (Two Sisters Dreaming)

This is a very important sacred story that refers to different aspects of ceremonial knowledge associated with Irruntju Women's business. Menstruation, courtship, pregnancy, childbirth, as well as the inma (ceremonial singing and dancing) and rites associated with these things are interwoven into its tjukurpa. So secret are some aspects of the story’s narration that parts are only told in whispers. The major narrative refers to the return journey of a young girl to her family. She originally got lost in a big wind. Her older sister finds her hundreds of kilometers from home, and being raised by another family. The story refers to the young child’s reluctance to leave the family who had raised her and the long trek she took with her sibling to reunite with her family. They journey northwards describes camping at rock holes and sacred places where they gather food, drink water and hunt. At these resting places they also perform ceremony through song and dance and make hair string belts in preparation for women’s business.

Additional aspects of the story include the creation of landmarks such as rock holes and mountains as they traveled through the desert. The Irrunytju rock holes existence is explained as the result of digging sticks being thrown at the ground by the two sisters after being humiliated by being caught unawares by a woman passerby. The intruder found them sitting indiscreetly at the rockhole site with their legs wide open as they were weaving string belts in preparation for women’s business. This story caused all the women to laugh at them. The places where they sat marked the landscape forming creeks and gullies. It also refers to how the mountain near Irrunytju took its form. It is said to represent an incident when the older sister, to comfort the younger one who was crying, told her stories and gave her a piggy back.





Kungkarangkalpa or Minyma Tjuta Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming)

This is a major Tjukurpa for Irrunytju and other Australian central desert communities. The seven sisters were born at Illuwarratjarra. They travelled from Kaliwarra to Wanarn in Western Australia, stopping at significant sites and rock holes including Kuru Ala, which is Myra’s mother country and a sacred place for women. As the sisters walked across the desert, they were followed by a wati kula-kula (lustful man) called Nyiru. He wanted to take one of the sisters as a wife, but he was an old man and they did not want him. The sisters were frightened and ran away, but he tracked them across the desert. Sometimes he tried to trick them, once pretending to be wayanu (quandong fruit). Another time the sisters saw a

kuniya (python) which they dug up for meat but when they tasted it they realised it wasn’t good meat and must be Nyiru. “They got sick after eating that. The women hunted him away but he still keeps following them. He is always playing tricks to try and get one of the sisters. That Nyiru, he’s a cheeky one. He caught one of the sisters, the big sister and took her. Too much. She died. He is still chasing them.” The sisters can be seen as a cluster of stars with Nyiru following behind them in the night sky. This cluster of stars is known as the Pleiades. Myra paints this story with her distinctive minimal fields of colour, interspersed with vibrant symbols of country.





Painting Description

Myra’s work is distinguished by a cosmic sense of infinite space created by intense fields of vibrant dotted colour that seem to explode onto the canvas. Foreground elements such as U shapes may float on the surface, symbolically referring to the seven sisters at a campsite or rockhole from their epic narrative.

Her canvases are infused with light and energised by a masterful orchestration of crystalline colours and intricate dot-work. Blues, greens, mauves, pinks and yellows evoke the vibrancy of the desert in bloom. Myra’s contemporary style is a refreshing reminder of the wealth of emerging talent from the Western Desert

 



Group Exhibitions

2009 Agathon Galleries Sydney, Melbourne

2008 Agathon Galleries Sydney, Melbourne

2008 Warakurna - Kaparli Tjamu Nintipungku, Alcaston Gallery, VIC

2007 Myra Cook Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries, VIC

2007 Tjukurrpa Mularrpa Waylkumunu Pirni, Lots of Good True Stories, Randell Lane Fine Art WA

2007 Kutju - One, Western Desert Mob Ngaanyatjarra Lands Regional Exhibition, Lawrence Wilson

2006 Desert Mob, Araluen Cultural Centre, NT

2006 Melbourne Art Fair, 2006, Alcaston Gallery, VIC

2006 Warakurna, Alcaston Gallery, VIC

2006 Tjukurrpa Tjarralatju Palyara Mularapa - We paint really strong stories. Warakurna Artists Group Exhibition, Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, NSW

2006 Pukurlpatulatju Palyara Pirrtja ‘We are happy to make painting’, Randell Lane Fine Art, WA

2006 Rawa-latju Nintirringkulatjaku, Knowing is the Future, Warakurna Artists Group Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, VIC





Collections

•    Lagerberg Swift Collection

•    The Marshall Collection

•    The Merenda Collection

 



Bibliography

Susan McCulloch, McCulloch’s Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Complete Guide, McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books, Fitzroy, Vic., 3065, 2008

Jeremy Eccles, “Fires from the Desert”, Aboriginal Art News, 23/09/2008.

Nicolas Rothwell, “The desert's tainted brush”, The Australian, 11/9/2006.