Carlene creates innovative, new work that alludes to her Father’s Country, Kanpi, in which the creation being is ‘Kalaya’, or emu. Her pieces encompass the cultural richness that Carlene possesses as a proud Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara woman. The intergenerational transfer of Indigenous and cultural knowledge is a priority for Carlene particularly the passing of knowledge down to her daughters and her artwork often features families.
I am always telling the story of my father’s country, a place called Kanpi. I am drawing the tjulpu (birds) and mamu (mischievous spirits) and ngura (county). I want to make something different this time for ceramics. The tjulpu makes a circle in the sand for a maṉngu (nest). The nest holds the whole family. These rings on the ceramics are the circles the tjulpu make on the ground. Family tell the children stories about mamu when they are sitting around the fire at night time. The stories are scary to make them behave.
Carlene Thompson, 2024
