Ceremonial Huts – Ngathunu

By Jesse Sutton                  
Age – 17 years            
Size – 30cm wide X 40cm high          
Medium – Acrylic and textured acrylic on canvas
Floating Frame - Painting comes with the floating frame and free postage Australia wide

Ceremonial Huts – Ngathunu

I am a contemporary Indigenous artist from the Kalkadoon people from Mount Isa in Queensland. This painting is called “Ngathunu” which means “Ceremonial Huts” in the Kalkadoon language.

This painting is my interpretation of the many ceremonial huts that were scattered throughout Kalkadoon country. The kalkadoon people would firstly tie sticks together with kangaroo sinew, hair or grasses to form the dome structure and then tie bark and leaves to the outside of the wooden structure with vines and grasses.

The huts were used for special ceremonies throughout the year with the ceremonies being an important part of the young Kalkadoon children’s education, learning about their culture and Lore with some ceremonies being a rite of passage as they grew up into teenagers and adults, some ceremonies were for men’s business and some were for women’s business.