Seven Sisters

Seven Sisters is an installation of painted hubcaps in NCCA’s Boxset, referencing the ancestral sisters who are chased by Artwele, an old man also known as the Morning Star, or Kwerralye Pule. The artist writes: The Seven Sisters are really important to all the women of my family. They are really important to all the other women across Central Australia. I call them Peltharre Sisters – that’s Arrernte. It means the same as Napaljarri. You might have heard that word? That’s the Seven Sisters’ skin name … their section, all across Central Australia. A person’s skin tells them where they fit with everyone else. Anyway, the Seven Sisters got so tired of Artwele chasing them across the country that they jumped up into the sky to escape all the men who make trouble for women, just like him. But Artwele, he just jumped up after them and he’s still chasing those Seven Sisters up there in the sky. We see him every morning, still chasing them, poor things. Jane Young is an Arrernte artist who is based in Alice Springs and works through Tangentyere Artists for which she is a founding member (2005). She and her family were also founding members of Keringke Arts at Santa Teresa (from the late 1980s). Jane has been exhibiting through Tangentyere Artists since 2006, mostly in group exhibitions. She generally paints on recycled metal and plastic hubcaps as well as linen. ‘I like to paint the shimmering of the little rocks in the Simpson Desert’, writes Jane, which accounts for the dense patterning and detail of her paintings and recalls her childhood spent with her grandmother taking her to special places in country. Other subjects include landscapes and bush tucker from the region. Jane is currently the Chair of Desart. In 2011, Jane’s work was part of the Darwin Festival Lighthouse Commission.