Seven Sisters Dreaming

Label

The Milky Way divides the middle of this painting with the central roundel representing Jilbi, the Ancestral man who pursued the Seven Sisters; they would eventually become the Pleiades star cluster. The roundels at either end represent the morning and evening stars. The sisters are shown at either side, camped around the sacred site Uluru (known previously to westerners as Ayers Rock, though the name has now officially been returned). The design around the sisters is drawn from women’s ceremonial body paint, and they remain connected, seemingly protected by the oscillating bands of color.

From the 2023 exhibition Layered Histories: Indigenous Australian Art from the Kimberley and Central Desert, curated by Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming

Exhibition History

Layered Histories: Indigenous Australian Art from the Kimberely and Central Desert, Amelia Kahl, Curator, 5 August 2023 - 2 March 2024, Citrin Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire.

Provenance

Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Certificate of Authenticity); sold to Will Owen (1952-2015) and Harvey Wagner (1931-2017), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, December 14, 1996; given to present collection, 2009.

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