Kapi Punungka | Water in the Wood

• Art Centre

  Maruku Arts

• Year

  2023

• Medium

  Muur-muurpa | Desert Bloodwood

• Size

  37 x 148 x 7.5cm

Cynthia Burke was born in Alice Springs and grew up in the central desert of Western Australia. An internationally exhibited painter with Warakurna Artists, Cynthia also works with Tjanpi Desert Weavers and is one of Maruku’s foremost up and coming wood carvers. In 2014, she became one of its youngest directors. She carries on the traditions of the Tjukurpa, the Law and way of life governing her country. In this work, Cynthia employs the technique of Walka, traditional desert design which is inextricably linked with Tjukurpa: the law and way of life of Yarnangu (Western Desert Aboriginal people). The symbols were traditonally used in cave, ground, and body paintings, in storytelling, teaching and signalling inheritance.