Bonnie Connelly, Ngurra Tjalaku. 2017. 55.9cm x 91.4cm. Acrylic on canvas. Tjarlirli Art. (#17-1095KA)

Bonnie is a senior artist based in Kaltukatjara (Docker River) which is just inside the Northern Territory.   Bonnie was born in Illurpa, a place near Blackstone in the Ngaanyatjarra lands. When she was young her mother took her to Ernabella, later they moved to Angus Downs and then Mutitjulu. Bonnie's father passed away in Alintjarra and came to Kaltukatjarra with her second husband. She has a lot of family in Warakurna and Blackstone whom she often makes reference to in telling her stories of earlier times travelling across the Ngaanyatjara Lands.

Bonnie takes part in the weekly aged care painting workshops in Kaltukatjara. Bonnie has very distinct mapping lines which are the first element to be applied to the canvas. She then carefully marks the travelling lines and nature of the landscape with dry grasses and rockholes. While painting, Bonnie reminisces about the people she travelled these lines with and how it is connected to where she is now in her senior years in Kaltukatjarra. The particular story in this painting is of a woman who has gone out to dig for honey ants close to the caves where she comes to cross the path of a man.