Tjulpu - Bird Carving - Dianne Strangways

Contemporary carvings by Anangu are known as punu, hand carved and decorated with walka, patterns,
burnt into the wood with wire heated on a wood fire. The animals all have their associations with stories of the Creation Ancestors and the activities which shaped the land, the people, and their Law.

Strangways has carved three pied butcherbirds, which are a black and white bird native to Australia, with a beautifully melodic voice. Dianne has developed her own style of carving birds so they seem to grow out of their own stand. She uses a variety of different designs for their wings, but they are usually all distinguished by large beaks and the 'feathered' walka on their bodies and branches.