Untitled - Dolly Snell Jukuja

Dolly Snell was born at a jila (permanent waterhole) called Kurtal in the Great Sandy Desert. When she was still a girl, her mother took her to Balgo Hills and then to Warnku, near Sturt Creek. From there they walked to Louisa Downs Station. She spent her life on Cattle stations such as Bohemia Downs and Christmas Creek Station in the North West.

In her own words: When I paint, I paint Kurtal. I paint one country. I can’t paint other country. I have two brothers and two sisters who belong to this jila.

In this work Kurtal is shown with its permanent water amongst the jilji (sandhills) and surrounding country in the Great Sandy Desert and the Mangarri (bush tucker) that is found there.

Dolly Snell won the 2015 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.