Carolanne Ken b. 1971

Carolanne Ken paints the story of Minyma Malilu, a deeply significant story that was passed down to her from her maternal grandmother. Malilu was an ancestral woman who was trying to reunite with one of her daughters after she had run away with the ‘wrong man’, according to the sophisticated Aboriginal kinship systems. Malilu found a part of raised land where she could keep watch over her daughter, so she dug a cave with her piti (coolamon) to build a big wiltja (shelter) for herself. This cave is now believed to possesses the power of Malilu's spirit, which Carolanne paints. The large painterly roundels represent the cave, and the fluid brush strokes across canvas show the digging marks created by Malilu. The Pitjantjatjara women are custodians of this story, - they visit the cave site and sing songs to Malilu, and also love songs to their husbands to keep them safe while travelling.