Margaret Turner Petyarre / Body Paint – Bush Orange Ceremony (MT004)

Margaret Turner Petyarre was born in 1945 and comes from the Utopia region in Central Australia. Margaret sadly passed away in 2008. She was an Anmatyerre woman and spent the majority of her life living in her traditional lands around Utopia.

Margaret was closely related to well known artists Kathleen and Gloria Petyarre and whilst she had been painting for many years she has only emerged in her own right in the last decade of her life.

Margaret commenced painting in the early eighties with the introduction of batik as a medium. In 1988 she was one of the artists involved with the widely publicized Summer Batik Project.

Margaret gained national and international recognition with her works represented in major Australian museums, the Holmes a Court collection and the Asian Society (New York). Exhibitions worldwide in various countries including Italy, Germany, The Netherlands and Russia have all attracted much admiration for Margaret. She was also selected as a finalist for the 2001 Australian Business Arts Foundation awards.

Selected Collections
• National Gallery of Australia
• Museum of Victoria
• Hank Ebes Collection
• Holmes a Court Collection
• Asian Society

Margaret has depicted body painting that carries deep spiritual significance for the Aboriginal people. They recognise the creative nature of this activity, which uses the human body itself as a living canvas for artistic expression. The use of particular designs and motifs denotes social position and the relationship of the individuals to their family group and to particular ancestors, totemic animals and tracts of land. In many situations individuals are completely transformed so they become the spirit ancestor they are portraying in the dance. The pattern must conform to the ceremony being performed, and the women are not at liberty to adorn themselves with designs of free will. This finely dotted piece by Margaret relates to the Bush Orange ceremony.