Author: Jason M. Gibson, DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, Deakin University

A ground painting is known in Anmatyerr as Ahelh Anety-irrem, meaning “broken” or perhaps even “transformed ground”. The name refers to the process of clearing an even surface on the red earth, building a sculpture and then deconstructing it. Anmatyerr people live in the desert community of Laramba, 200 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs. Now, the work of Anmatyerr artists has been shown in Switzerland for the first time. In December, four men from Laramba travelled to the Canton of Valais, just east of Geneva. Anmatyerr men Morris Wako, Martin Hagan, Cliffy Tommy and Michael Tommy with the ground paintings.…