Posted: 2017-10-14 22:43:57

Posted October 15, 2017 09:43:57

A group of Indigenous artists from the remote APY Lands in the far north of South Australia have been using ancient techniques to create brand new work.

They are using ochre to paint stories on rocks, then taking photos of it which they can sell.

It is a marked difference from artworks painted on canvas in art centres, for which the APY Lands have become internationally renowned.

It allows artists to get out onto their country, teach the next generations their stories, and make money from the process.

One artist, Keith Stevens, has painted a story of two sisters spearing a rainbow serpent at a waterhole.

He and senior elder Ginger Wikilyiri took the ABC to the waterhole near their community of Nyapari, after checking first that it was OK with the spirit by shouting out to it.

"My father told me this story, that this was the place of the Rainbow Serpent Piltatinya," he said in Pitjantjatjara.

It involves two women who end up spearing a rainbow serpent.

Mr Stevens painted the story using ochre straight onto the rock of the waterhole.

But while the painting has now been washed away, he can still sell stunning images of it.

The art centre at Nyapari, Tjungu Palya has teamed up with a professional photographer to take photos of the temporary paintings.

They have produced limited prints which have already almost sold out.

"Pictures are good because everybody might be sharing that picture," Mr Stevens said.

"White people, women, children, sharing picture make everybody happy.

"Everything here is good, the dreaming story is good."

Topics: aboriginal, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society, visual-art, nt

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