Arnkerrth, the journey woman, the Dreaming Ancestor, is glimpsed sometimes as a trick of the surface, sometimes as a presence sensed or felt by the viewer rather than actually seen. Arnkerrth’s tracks, as she makes her way through the harsh desert conditions, become a whirling vortex. The powerfully suggestive layering effect is almost certainly a byproduct of Kathleen's earlier familiarity with body painting and with the technically demanding methods of batik. Petyarre has brought the subtlety of a refined minimal aesthetic to her paintings and like her Auntie Emily Kngwarreye pushed the envelop of stylistic boundaries.

Kathleen and her sister Myrtle amongst the sandhills of Atnangker

To understand the interrelationships of Kathleen’s Arnkerrth Dreaming paintings, imagine a large jigsaw puzzle made up of the 200 plus square kilometers of Atnangker country. Sometimes Petyarre re-creates the entire expanse of Atnangker country — ‘the big picture,’ or ‘the whole lot’ — but at other times she focuses on localised sites of significance within that whole, For example, she sometimes paints an entire canvas devoted to an important rockhole, or a creek bed visited by Arnkerrth in her traveling, or a row of trees on her country that signify underground water, or women’s ‘business’ sites. Petyarre captures the sense of mosaic diversity that exists within the larger aggregate system — Atnangker country as a whole-with extraordinary grace, skill and virtuosity.

All paintings indicated with green dots are currently for sale. Prices and photos can be obtained by contacting us via e-mail, please be specific and mention the name and inventory code of the paintings. We particularly welcome phone calls in the U.S. at (415-871-5901). -- David Betz, Curator