My Country 2010 by Maisie Campbell Napaltjarri, 180x150cm

This striking painting titled "My Country 2010" by Maisie Campbell Napaltjarri is a topographical view of her country near Haasts Bluff, about 300km north-west of Alice Springs. The linear lines depict sand dunes (tali) and rocky outcrops (puli) that dominate the countryside. The area is home to the Luritja people, who have many Western Arrente and Pintupi family connections. Maisie's language group is Pintupi. Her father was Ngatatjarra from Karku, near Warrakuna in WA. And her mother is Napata a Luritja woman from Papunya.

Maisie spent her formative years at Papunya attending school there. Her first teacher was Geoffrey Bardon, a fact that she remains proud of today. As a young woman, Maisie moved to the Pintupi community of Kintore, about 500km west of Alice Springs, where she married Barney Campbell Tjakamarra (now deceased) and to whom she had four children.

Maisie is enthusiastic about the preservation of her tribal traditions and sees the recording of traditional sites and ceremonies on canvas as an important port of both sustaining and fostering the great traditions of her culture.