we don't need a map..

.. unlike me who got lost in Fremantle even with a map.

This, the great title of fantastic exhibition of Martu art at the Fremantle Arts Centre.
The Martu are Aboriginal people from the Western Desert whose lands include Percival Lakes and the Pilbara, the latter one of Australia's mineral 'jewels in the crown' and the home to vast iron ore deposits that colour the land red.
Known as some of the last people to 'come in from the desert' though sadly not in a voluntary way, the Martu are still 'walking around' , hunting and gathering in the traditional way and continuing with the land management and 'caring for country.'

The works are many and varied, on paper and canvas, woven baskets of wool and plant material, animated film and recordings of burning of country and the cycles of fire and rejuvenation and the songs and stories.
Amongst all of this are satellite images of Martu country and the extraordinary juxtapositions of artists' images from their place in the country to those that the satellite records from space and how the colours and locations echo each other.

I have been lucky enough to wander ( and wonder) a little in this country and a privilege it is. The color of the earth and sky, the gorges and ranges and pockets of water, the tropic line that passes across the land and the many stories.
One of which is the rabbit proof fence and in this exhibition a series of paintings depicting the story of the artist's mother, Daisy, the youngest of three sisters removed from their family and taken to the Moore River Native Settlement, near Perth, in 1931. Daisy and her sisters followed the rabbit proof fence back to Jigalong and their family. Some of you may have seen their story in Rabbit Proof Fence.

I just love the image on the poster and the booklet. Nothing gentle and dreamy, just reality about life in a harsh and beautiful sunburnt country.