Vicki has been painting at lwantja Arts for twenty years. She is self-taught in painting and often depicts the land, sky and rugged nature that surround the lndulkana community. Vicki often tells the story of The Seven Sisters within her paintings; symbolically representing the story with a rich iconography of stars (kililpi), tjukula (rock holes), and apu (mountains.) Vicki enjoys depicting this story and its representation of the strength and independence of women. "The Seven Sisters, they walked around these lands, those ladies were strong women - they stayed strong together. A man was trying to catch them, be he couldn't hurt them because they stayed strong together. If you look you can see them in the sky at night time, now they have become stars." Vicki's work is immaculately executed, with extreme attention to detailed brushstrokes and mar¼,.making. Her works result iri striking and powerful representations of night skies and desert plains dotted with tali (sandhills.) Within her works pathways and hidden tracks weave their.way throughout the painting, guiding viewers to look deeper within the star landscapes, linking together references of exploration of the land and personal journeys. "There were only a few houses in the community when I was young, there used to be four little tin sheds in a row, one of the tin sheds belonged to my family, we used to make a small fire inside and drink hot tea. Back then there was a lot of water in the rock holes and there were tjukitjis (underground springs) in the ridge and around Mt Chandler - we were always outdoors playing and swimming. I've been painting at lwantja for many years now, my paintings show the country and tell stories that I know, I often paint the story of the Seven Sisters - it's special to me. When I'm painting, I think about how to make the painting strong, I don't worry about other things at home or outside, it's peaceful and I'm in a quiet place."
