Rayleen Price Pula
Rayleen Pula Price, an artist from Utopia, was born circa 1969. Utopia, situated approximately 350 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs, is renowned for being home to some of the most prominent figures in Aboriginal art, including Betty Mbitjana, Abie Loy Kemarre, Barbara Weir, Gloria Petyarre, Anna Price Pitjara, the late Minnie Pwerle, Kudditji Kngwarreye, and Kathleen Petyarre, among others.
Rayleen shares familial ties with the distinguished Anna Price Pitjara and Delvine Petyarre, with their artistic expressions reflecting notable similarities due to their shared heritage. Notably, Margaret Price is Rayleen's mother. Traditionally, each Aboriginal artist typically adheres to a unique stylistic approach to their subjects; thus, Margaret maintains her distinct style, which she consistently employs without encroaching upon Rayleen's artistic expression, and vice versa.
Rayleen's artwork vividly represents her visions of bush seeds and bush medicine leaves, which are integral components of the staple foods and medicinal practices utilized by the women of Utopia.
The intricacy of Rayleen's work has garnered significant demand throughout Australia, and as she continues to follow the esteemed Anna Petyarre, it is anticipated that her artwork will soon achieve international recognition.
Rayleen Price's creations have been featured at auction on numerous occasions.
About the painting
For Aboriginal people, country does not just mean the creeks, rock outcrops, hills, and waterholes. Country includes all living things. It incorporates people, plants, and animals. It embraces the seasons, stories, and creation spirits. country is both a place of belonging and a way of believing.
Through our travels, we have sustained and celebrated our knowledge of our country. It is an experience vividly expressed in our traditional songs, stories, dance, and art. The cultures encompass many different responses to history and homelands. And they include traditions bothold and new.
Aboriginal cultures have many faces and a multitude of voices. Every stretch of the country possesses its own creation ancestors, sacred places, languages, ceremonies, totems, art, clan groupings, and law.
There are desert people like us as well as saltwater people, people of the stone country, and people of the islands. Many people live in town but still call these places home.
For all this phenomenal diversity there remain similarities. Among different clan groups, there are mutual responsibilities and common values. These links have been maintained through generations of working together on trade routes, ceremonial sites, and the dreaming tracks that cross borders - and the continent itself.
