Carlene Thompson
Tjulpu Kulunypa - Baby Birds | 2025 | acrylic on canvas | 92 x 152cm
Sunshine Coast National Art Prize 2025 - Finalist
Image courtesy of the artist and Ernabella Arts, Pukatja
Carlene Thompson
(Pitjantjatjara/Anangu)
NT
Tjulpu Kulunypa – Baby Birds, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
92 x 152 cm
This is an artwork about birds and their chicks. Carlene often paints birds, as tjulpu tjukurpa (bird dreaming) is related to her family's country which is near Kanypi in the Western APY Lands. As a mother of several children, family themes are common in Carlene's work. People call her Tjulpu Thompson, and she says, ‘like I did with my children, I now raise chicks every day on canvas and in clay in my work’.