Originally from Melville Island (northern Australia), Patrick Puruntatameri is inspired by the ritual motifs that the Tiwi Aborigines use for the body paintings they cover themselves with during their religious ceremonies - mainly funerary (Pukumani). These motifs serve to designate the clan to which the Aborigines belong. They are made with natural pigments: charcoal, chalk and especially ochre. This work is associated with an important Tiwi sacred site: Milikapiti, whose division of the work into small squares evokes the parcels of territory. The evocation of Milikapiti is also associated with the stars - and in particular with the moon represented in its first and last quarters. Moreover, the painting can be read as a true map of the sky with its constellations - the lines of stars cutting the space of the work into cosmographic regions. Earth and sky are thus closely associated here. Collections: - Museum of Victoria, Melbourne - National Gallery of Australia, Canberra - National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne - National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney