KULITJA
Rene
12 December 1958 —
AKA: Wanuny Kulitja
Aboriginal or Torrest Stait Islander: Yes
Additional Information
Special Achievements
- Rene Kulitja is the first Aboriginal artist to have her art work painted on a domestic Qantas aircraft. She designed the Yananyi Dreaming for the Qantas Boeing 737. The Yananyi Dreaming design features Uluru as a physical form surrounded by kurkara (desert oak trees), tali (sand hills), the lungata (blue tongued lizard) and the racks of the mala (wallaby). The word (y)ananyi means "to go" or "to travel" in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara.
Additional Information
- Rene is an established artist and works with a range of media, including fabric, glass, ceramics and grass weaving. Her work has been shown in many exhibitions across Australia. It has also been exhibited in Belgium and Japan. As a Tjanpi Desert Weavers artist she represented Australia in the 2015 Venice Biennale. Also a member of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board of Joint Management, director for the NPY Women’s Council, Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation and Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir. Rene was also a founding director of Walkatjara Art and a current Director and previous chair of Maruku.
- As a community advocate, Rene has campaigned to address the issues of petrol sniffing in Central Australia.
Resources
Image - Yananji Dreaming" climbing out from Runway 34 Left
Image courtesy of Grahame Hutchison, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Yananyi_Dreaming_(Boeing_737-800)#/media/File:Boeing_737-838,_Qantas_AN0398098.jpg
Link - Rene Kulitja
Maruku Arts
Link - Rene Kulitja
Wikipedia
Link - Flying Art
Qantas