Tanya Brady / Seven Sisters Dreaming (Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa) (TAB202212)

Artwork is accompanied by Yanda Aboriginal Art Certificate of Authenticity/Provenance. Artwork painted by the artist at Yanda Art Studio, NT

Tanya Brady was born in 1980 and is a Pitjantjatjara artist from Amata, South Australia, in the APY lands. An exciting and respected young artist and community leader, Tanya has held leadership positions at both the Amata Community Council and Amata School.

Tanya comes from a family of talented artists. Her grandparents are Mick Wikilyiri and Paniny Mick, both important cultural leaders and highly regarded artists. Her mother is Freda Brady, one of five sisters (the others being Yaritji Young, Tjungkara Ken, Sandra Ken and Maringka Tunkin) who are famous for their collaborative artworks including the winning entry in the prestigious Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2016.

Tanya’s artworks display the importance of knowledge transfer in Anangu culture and its significance in keeping cultural law and stories alive.

Tanya divides her time between her homelands of Amata in the APY lands and the rural property of Yanda Arts studio, outside of Alice Springs.

Recent Exhibitions

• 2022 Nganampa Ngura Kurunjara, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
• 2022 Walka Wiru Beautiful Drawing, APY Art Centre Collective, Sydney
• 2022 “Minyma Wiru: The Great Ladies of Tjala”, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Paris

Tanya tells us the story of the Seven Sisters. This Tjukurpa (Creation) story shows the sisters as the constellation of Pleiades and Orion is said to be Nyiru (bad man). Nyiru saw the sisters as they travelled to the west. He fell in love with them, and even though they were of the wrong skin name to marry him, he was desperate to make them his. As the women fled from Nyiru they created the country and landscape. The sisters created the rockhole’s, sandhills and rocky outcrops as they tried to escape. Eventually they created a rock hole which went deep under the ground and came up on the other side of the hill. The women dived into the water and came out on the other side to fly up into the sky. Nyiru followed them into the water and when he came out on the other side he was too late. Now, Nyiru can be seen to the south of the seven sisters, as he still chases them across the sky.