Jimmy Baker, Kalaya Tjukurpa

Biography:

Kunmanara (Jimmy) Baker was born along the Kalaya Tjukurpa (Emu Dreaming) track in the Western Desert. After the mission days his family established a community at Kanpi so they could live on their own country. Jimmy was a senior law man and a highly regarded Ngangkari (traditional healer), and as such he holds intimate cultural knowledge, such as the stories relating to Kipara (Bush Turkey), Kalaya (Emu), Piltati (Sacred Rockhole Site) and Wanampi Kutjara (Two Serpent Men’s Creation Story).

His work depicts the cultural landscape, his Tjukurrpa and in like fashion to other senior men, he painted stories that clearly defined significant sites or paths etched into the landscape by ancestral beings. These sites and their artistic manifestation are multi layered, with physical, geographical, spiritual and ceremonial connotations.

The artwork:

This subject artwork depicts the Kalaya Tjukurpa (Emu creation story) for the Kanpi Community. The emu is walking around the country, leaving travelling tracks and eating various bush foods as he walks. All his children are gone, hidden in the bush. The Kalaya was playing a trick on the Kipara (Bush Turkey Man).[1]

[1] http://www.redotgallery.com/artist_detail.php?artist=447

Accessed 30.3.2023