Patju Presley was born in the 1940s at Etari, near Wataru, and belongs to the Pitjantjatjara language and cultural group. When he was a young child he lived a traditional lifestyle walking along tjukurpa tracks that linked sacred sites and water sources. From the tjilpis (old men) he learnt to survive in the desert and anangu social order, law, culture, tjukurpa and ceremony.

Patju first learnt about Christianity from Mr Wade, the missionary who used to travel through the desert on a camel preaching the Bible and giving out tea and damper. When the mission was established Patju spent some time there learning English to read and write hymns and Bible stories. Patju trained to be a preacher at the mission at Ernabella and delivers sermons at Irrunytju church services. He is also a strong cultural man who practices traditional cultural business and inma (ceremonial singing and dancing), carves punu (ceremonial and utilitarian objects) and hunts malu (kangaroo), kalaya (emu), kipara (bush turkey) and rabbit.
Patju lives in Irrunytju with his wife Ivy Laidlaw who he met at school in Warburton. In his paintings Patju refers to many of the tjukurpa of the country around Irrunytju including the Wati Kipara (Bush Turkey), Wati Kutjara (Two Water-Snake Men) and Minyma Kutjara (Two Sisters). His images are schematic representations of the epic journeys and creation stories of the country. References to important landforms, rockholes and tjukurpa tracks implicitly evoke the tjukuritja beings (of the dreaming), their interactions and incidents. Just as reference to places named in the Bible such as Gethsemane, Bethlehem and the Read Sea, evoke Bible characters, incidents, religious, symbolic and metaphorical meanings, the references to features in the country by the senior artists at Irrunytju are heavily loaded with complex symbolic meanings and interconnected layers of cultural references.

Writers:

Knights, Mary

Date written:

2006

Last updated:

2011