Rene Kulitja (born 1958), also known as Wanuny Kulitja, is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

. She works with a range of media, including paint, glass and

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

s. Her most famous design is probably ''Yananyi Dreaming'', which covers a

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

Life

Early life

Rene was born in 1958, in

Ernabella Pukatja (formerly Ernabella, ) is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Pipalyatjara, Fregon/Kaltjiti ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Her family are

Pitjantjatjara people The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are v ...

, and her Pitjantjatjara name is Wanuny. She grew up in northern South Australia, and then moved to

Docker River Kaltukatjara, also known as Docker River, is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is southwest of Alice Springs, west of the Stuart Highway, near the Western Australia and Northern Territory border. ...

following her marriage to Richard Kulitja. When

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The park is home to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. It is located south of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin by road and south-west of Alice Springs al ...

was handed back to

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

in 1985, the couple moved to Muṯitjulu to work in tourism. Rene became involved in arts and crafts at the women's centre there shortly after, and was a founding director of Walkatjara Art. Richard became the manager of Aṉangu Tours.

As an artist

During the mid-1990s, Kulitja worked with other women artists on the interior design of the park's cultural centre. She also took a course on

glasswork Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

techniques at the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

, along with three other women. After a successful exhibition of work made using these new skills, Kulitja and the other women received a commission from the

Ayers Rock Resort Yulara is a town in the southern region of the Northern Territory, Australia. It is an unincorporated enclave within the MacDonnell Region. At the , Yulara had a permanent population of 1,099, in an area of . It is by road from the World Herit ...

Yulara Yulara is a town in the southern region of the Northern Territory, Australia. It is an unincorporated enclave within the MacDonnell Region. At the , Yulara had a permanent population of 1,099, in an area of . It is by road from the World Heri ...

for a panel of glass decorated with traditional designs. In 2000, Kulitja was one of over 300 Aboriginal women from Central Australia to perform at the Opening Ceremony of the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In 2002, Kulitja worked with Balarinji Studio in Sydney to design the exterior of a

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twinjet, twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it ha ...

fuselage. The design she painted was of

Uluṟu Uluru (; ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone monolith. It crops out near the centre of Australia in the southern part of the Northern Territory, south-west of Alice Springs. Ul ...

. It was based on traditional designs and sacred Dreaming legends. The fleet was launched on 14 February 2002, with a special

ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil ...

performed by singers and dancers from Muṯitjulu. The word ''(y)'' means "to go" or "to travel" in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. It was the third Qantas aircraft to be painted in an Aboriginal design. Kulitja did something similar again in 2010, when a semi-trailer was decorated with another of her designs as part of a national roadshow by Maṟuku Arts.

Community work

Kulitja has held an important position within the Pitjantjatjara–Yankunytjatjara community for several years. She has been a member of both the Muṯitjulu Community Council and the Board of Management of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. In 2006, she became the chairperson of Maṟuku Arts. In October 2007, she was elected for a two-year term as a director on the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women's Council. As a community advocate, Kulitja has campaigned to address the issues of

petrol sniffing Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

in Aboriginal communities in central Australia. Her own family has been deeply affected by the problem.

Art

Kulitja works with a range of media, including paint, glass, ceramics and ' (desert grass) through the

Tjanpi Desert Weavers Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a social enterprise of the NPY Women's Council, representing over 400 women from 26 unique communities in the NPY (Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara) region. Tjanpi is the Pitjantjatjara word for a type o ...

social enterprise at

NPY Women's Council The Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women's Council (NPY Women's Council, NPYWC) is a community-based community organisation formed in 1980 delivering services to the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara women in th ...

. She makes

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

s, woven baskets, and glass and ceramic

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s. Her work has been shown in many exhibitions across Australia. It has also been exhibited in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. An example of her glass work is shown in the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

. It is a coolamon made of glass (rather than the traditional wood), and has been exhibited in several Australian galleries. Examples of her paintings are held in the National Museum of Ethnology in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. Kulitja is also known for making traditional-style

jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

using modern techniques and media. Some of her jewellery work was featured on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

'' when Winfrey visited Uluṟu in December 2010. Her works are in the collections of: * Walkatjara Art Archive * Araluen Arts Centre Collection *

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, Brussels * Environment Australia Collection *

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia (NMA), in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''Nation ...

* Maruku Arts Collection

Exhibitions

* TarraWarra Biennale (with the

/ Fiona Hall), 2014 * 56th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

(with the

/ Fiona Hall), 2015 * Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters (

& international tour), 2017 * Kunturu Kulini (Artsite Galleries, Sydney), 2018 * 48th Canterbury Art Exhibition (Melbourne), 2020 * Rising: Shadow Spirit ( Flinders Street Station, Melbourne), 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulitja, Rene 1958 births Living people Australian painters Australian Aboriginal artists People from South Australia Artists from the Northern Territory Australian glass artists