Walka design from Ernabella

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Type: Acrylic paintings
Date: 1954 - 1986
Place: Ernabella, South Australia, Australia
Materials: Paint - non specific, Paper
Collection: Winifred Hilliard collection no. 3
Accession number: 2000.0014.0754

Description

Multi coloured abstract design on a cream ground. The design is composed of irregular forms that touch or overlap to create a bold, open composition. The forms are loosely arranged into three circles that connect at a central point. There are five long, narrow, wavy forms, four of which are divided by a thin black line along their length. One half is yellow, the other deep pink with white dots. The fifth form is yellow and divides one of the circles from the lower right to the centre. At the centre is a red spot under a lobed form infilled with deep pink and white dots. The remaining eight forms each have one deeply lobed edge with a long, curved 'tail' that terminates in a point and connects with a neighbouring form. They have red, orange and deep blue bands that follow the contours. The opposite, curved edge encloses an infilled area of blue or red, with white dots. The artist has signed in the lower left corner.

About the collection

The collection comprises a broad range of objects including batiks, pokerwork carvings, paintings and pastel drawings on paper and other art and craft items, bibles and school readers in Pitjantjatjara, drawings by school children, photograph albums, videos and a small number of stone implements. The collection is significant for the depth and range of material associated with a single Aboriginal settlement at Ernabella, now known as Pukatja, its art centre and with Deaconness Winifred Hilliard who was the Arts Advisor to Ernabella between 1954 and 1986. The collection largely dates to this period. Along with other material previously donated by Hilliard, this collection documents the history of Ernabella and the women's art movement there between, but not limited to, 1954 and 1986.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:14:48 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-23. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.