414-21TA, Tjala Arts, Acrylic on Linen, 122 x 198 cm
Ray Ken was a senior law man and significant artist on the APY Lands. He grew up in Pukutja (Ernabella Mission) and as a young man he worked hard mustering cattle and tending to livestock at surrounding cattle stations. Ray painted for the first time at Tjala Arts (formerly Minymaku Arts) in mid 2003, his practice drew on his intimate knowledge of the land and his responsibility to fostering cultural law. Ray’s distinctive motifs often portrayed tali (undulating sandhills of the desert) and kuḻaṯa (spears), an important hunting instrument used by men in Aṉangu culture. His work is striking and his complex linear compositions create vibrations across the surface of his work.
Before Rays passing in 2018 he was a principal senior man in the major APY regional collaborative project Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa (Many Spears), a finalist in the prestigious Wynne Prize in Sydney at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and twice a finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards Exhibition at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
