CCCSRI
Level 8
Yaritji Young: Honey Ant Dreaming
Yaritji is telling the story of the Honey Ant Dreaming, or Tjala Tjukurpa in her Pitjantjatjara language. Yaritji’s birth Country around her home in Amata is the place of the Honey Ant Dreaming, and the art centre there where she works is called Tjala Arts.
Tjala Tjukurpa was painted to raise funds for the Aboriginal-owned dialysis service called The Purple House, for treatment of kidney disease in remote communities.
Kidney dialysis that’s provided on-Country by The Purple House organisation removes the trauma for patients of being taken from their families in remote communities to go for treatment in far-away hospitals, never to return. It also extends intergenerational transfer of cultural knowledge by keeping elders at home for longer. Many Aboriginal communities are in chronic need of dialysis services.
Hope for change exists in the form of The Purple House, an Aboriginal organisation based in Alice Springs, dedicated to providing culturally supportive mobile dialysis and raising funds for extending its service to as many communities as possible.
This painting was donated to The Purple House by artist Yaritji Young from the remote Pitjantjatjara community of Amata and purchased at a fund-raising auction that contributed $175,000 towards a new dialysis unit in close-by Ernabella community in the APY Lands of South Australia.
Its presence here continues its healing work. It’s a strong and beautiful reminder of the power of art to inspire and drive change.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.