My Country Watarru, Oct 2019 | RKS008
Unglazed ceramic | 27h x 20w cm
Mary Katatjuku Pan (b.1944) is a skilled and imaginative fibre artist, sculptor and painter. She sculpts with tjanpi and has a prolific painting and drawing practice. Her unique style derives from layering her mediums and animating the iconography in her work to achieve a playful narrative linking her to her homeland, Watarru.
In her work, Mary refers to the land around Watarru and the tjukurpa (cultural law) there, she illustrates kapi tjukula (waterholes), tjilpul (birds) and other desert animals, tjati (lizards), the nintuka (desert monitor) and ngiyari (thorny devil) which are hunted after the fires. Mary was working for land management at Watarru for many years, tracking animals and looking for endangered species. She is an excellent tracker and hunter, a well-respected artist and influential member of the Amata community.
In 2021, Mary’s ink drawings, ‘Animal Tjuta – Animals of Watarru’ were selected for the Works on Paper category in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards at the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin.
Mary Pan has exhibited both across Australia and overseas.
