Delvine Petyarre / Country (DP83)

Delvine Petyarre is from the Utopia region in Central Australia. Born Patricia Petyarre in 1982, she is the younger sister of senior artist Anna Price Petyarre and shares the same stories and country as her sister and together they are connected to Country at Atneltyeye (Boundary Bore), which is located on the Utopia Homelands.

Delvine learned her painting skills and stories from her family. Her mother was the late Gloria (Glory) Ngale, a prominent Utopian artist, who passed away in 2002 and she is also closely related to several of Australia’s best known artists, Gloria and Kathleen Petyarre, and Kudditji Kngwarreye and Emily Kame Kngwarreye, through her grandparents. Glory was known for her eye for colour, a legacy of her Batik work, which she has passed down to Delvine and her sisters. Glory also favoured the intricate dotwork style that Anna and Delvine have embraced.

Delvine is gaining a following for her fine painting technique and the care and pride she takes in her work, producing intricate and sensitive paintings that relate to the traditional culture of her Anmatyerre heritage. A versatile and creative artist, Delvine has changed her painting style several times over the last decade. Her work is becoming more collectible as she develops her craft and cements her reputation as one of Utopia’s rising talents.

Delvine’s artwork depicts from a topographical view in fine detail, multi layered elements associated with her family homelands of Atneltyeye, Utopia in Central Australia.

The illustration is important visually and spiritually of country – sand hills, river beds, and significant landmarks for ceremonies. The leaves, flowers, bark or seeds of certain plants are harvested in season or as needed.

This is often done in groups so that knowledge is passed down from older to younger women. Ceremonial sites are where the women gather for girls’ initiation and other cultural Law matters. The women sit around the waterholes, often depicted in the artwork, with the waterholes being full in the dry desert land. Due to this, there was plenty of bush tucker around for the women to eat during the sometimes very long period of time they camped out for Women’s Business.