Carlene West: Tjitjiti

„Nyangatja ngayuku ngura ka ngura panya ini Tjitjiti ka Tjitjitiku Tjukurpa Minyma Kutjarangku tjtji kutju katinyi tjina wati Tjitjitinya ka nyara maliki Wati Kuninka altingu tjitji kutju ngalya kati' ka panyaya wirtjapakanu ka watingku kulata wakani minyma kutjara tjungu ngaranyi iluntananyi tjitji kulu ngaltaltjara ka kuwari minyma kutjara nyupali tjitjiti ngaranyi."

This is a painting representing my country of Tjitjiti a large salt lake. It is the site of the ancestor women. Here the Two Women are walking across the big salt lake with a child when they are called by a stranger, a Quoll Man, to hand over the child. The women run to escape but the Quoll Man threw many spears and eventually one hit, impaling the two women together with the child. This is a sad story. The two women can still be seen today standing at Tjitjiti.In Spinifex lore Tjitjiti is highly sacred country and the place where Carlene was born. It is an area of unusual geographic features of a huge salt lake and large unvegetated sandhills. Like all Tjukurpa (creation stories) these ancestral beings create and shape this landscape as they travel through it. At Tjitjiti the Quoll Man throws many spears in the pursuit of the Two Women and the spears can today be seen as a rock seam protruding from the ground. The Two Women are outcrops that can be seen a great distance away. This Tjukurpa line and the characters involved continue moving to the east of Tjitjiti. The Quoll Man digs for water at Ooldea in the south and eventually fights the Moon Man in country near Oak Valley where he passes away.