Mrs K. Butler

Mrs K. Butler was born quite close to Kulkurta and Purrungu at a place called Kuun. Kuun is the name of the waterhole there. Kuun is also the name of the yellow ochre. There is also a place very close to Kuun that she referred to as her home and one of her Tjukurrpa (dreaming) which she painted. It is called Kuurmankutja. This place is home to the two Kuniya (python) dreaming. Another dreaming she painted was Marrapirnti.

Her father was Lilyiwara Tjungurrayi and her mother was Mangkatji Nangala. She had an older sister Nguya Napaltjarri and a younger brother Peter Tjanpaltjarri, both now deceased.

Mrs K. Butler lived with her parents, siblings and immediate family in the bush as a child, teenager and young married woman. She lived with her family and later with her husband in the country to the west of Tjukurla in the Kulkurta area, which is south of the Baron Range in Western Australia.

She lived a traditional nomadic lifestyle, travelling with family within their ancestral country and living off the animals they hunted and bush foods they collected. Water was sourced from rockholes, soakages, springs and claypans. All travelling was done on foot.

She began painting in the 1990s, following the passing of her husband, Papunya Tula founder Anatjari Tjakamarra. Mrs K. Butler was recognised with numerous award nominations, including winning the major prize at the Wyndham Art Prize in 2016, and exhibited widely in both Australia and overseas in solo and group shows.

Her powerful works are a commanding presence in any space. Her love of painting was evident in her prodigious output. She used large round brushes to apply broad swathes of paint, rhythmically marking out waterholes with the full weight of her body propelling the brush.

She would then build up other landscape features like puli (rocks), tali (sandhills) and vast grasslands. Her spirit is embodied in the power of her brushstrokes, the broad fields of colour engulfing the viewer and offering a momentary glimpse into her deep knowledge of Country and Tjukurrpa.

Words by Dr. Lizzie Marrkilyi Ellis, Mrs Butler’s niece.