Wati Wara – Lawrence Pennington Solo

REDOT FINE ART GALLERY in collaboration with Spinifex Arts Project presents

Wati Wara A Solo Show by Lawrence Pennington A Collection of Fine Spinifex Indigenous Art

27 th April - 28 th May 2016

Gallery 1 & 2

For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.

c o n t e m p o r a r y

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Mr. Lawrence Pennington Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Stephen Oxenbury 2014

Wati Wara – Lawrence Pennington Solo The ReDot Fine Art Gallery is extremely honoured to be hosting its second doubleheader exhibition of a strong 2016 exhibition calendar. We are proud to present the first ever solo show for Lawrence Pennington, a senior lawman born circa 1934 and a series of 8 collaborative works by the latest sensation that is sweeping the modern Indigenous art movement, the Spinifex Arts Project.

Tjungutja – Art of the Spinifex Collaborative and Wati Wara – Lawrence Pennington Solo are the culmination of over two years’ worth of curating and significant cultural discussion, to ensure that these two firsts for the small community in the southern part of the Great Victoria Desert, receive maximum attention and kudos.

Never before have 8 major collaborative works from the Spinifex Arts Project been gathered in one commercial gallery setting, until today. And indeed, the works that will be on display in Singapore have already - even before their commercial debut - been exhibited in a major museum offering, in the much praised and critically-acclaimed Tarnanthi exhibition in late 2015 at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), curated by Nici Cumpston.

Equally important are the 29 individual jewels amassed for this opening of Mr. Pennington’s first solo show, celebrating the life of one of the most revered Indigenous men in Australia today. Born just outside of the north-eastern boundary of Spinifex at a place called Urlu, Lawrence came in as a young Wati (initiated man). He married late in Cundeelee and has only one son. Lawrence painted in the early years, collaboratively

and individually before leaving Tjuntjuntjara for about 7 years. Perhaps it was because he had aged somewhat or because he was back on country amongst his fellow senior lawmen and therefore in a more contemplative space. Whatever the reason that led Lawrence to recently begin painting again with vigour, it has produced a portfolio of fascinating, eclectic works which are distinctly his. His paintings have unearthed a treasure trove of culture and simplistic beauty using minimal colour palates and a honed sense of positive-negative space, drawing the viewer into a world which has long since been forgotten and the prerogative of a time passed.

The exhibitions begin on Wednesday 27th April and runs until Saturday 28th May 2016. The opening night will be attended in person by Winmati Roberts, Lawrence Pennington’s nephew, and Fred Grant, on behalf of the Spinifex Arts Project. Art Centre coordinators Amanda Dent and Brian Hallet will also be in attendance, in what will be their second trip to Singapore following on from their acclaimed international debut in 2014. A must-see show for anyone interested in following the recent developments in Indigenous Art and an opportunity to meet a beautiful and talented proponent of one of the world’s oldest art forms.

Giorgio Pilla Director ReDot Fine Art Gallery

Spinifex Country Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Stephen Oxenbury 2014

Spinifex Artists as Cold War Moderns In October 1986, a desert-dwelling family of a community known as the Anagu tjuta pila nguru, or “people from the land of the spinifex� became the last Aboriginals in Australia to abandon traditional nomadic life. A male elder who had escaped from the Warburton mission with his young wife and stepdaughter twenty-five years earlier headed the family of seven. Returning to the red-earth landscape of spinifex grass and mulga, they raised their children, remaining in the wilderness as family and friends departed for mission life. The family walked from rock hole to rock hole spearing kangaroo, emu, goanna, blue-tongued lizard and mallee hen: the last of five hundred generations to pursue this nomadic way of life across a stretch of remote country now stripped of all other residents. Seeing the glint and streaks of aircraft in desert sky, they threw magical objects at them and sang protective songs. White people were ghosts traveling above them and across the land. The couple told their children that distant trains were roaring Wati Wanampi, venomous water-snake beings. From a hill overlooking the Blackstone mission settlement (today, Papulankutja) the children witnessed what they believed was a pitched battle between legendary warmala or warriors. The frightening vista was of an amateur football skirmish. It would be the family’s closest brush with the outside world until 1986.

Exiles living at the Coonana settlement for those displaced by the Maralinga nuclear tests of the 1950s believed their lost desert relatives dead. Stories about the family’s survival continued to circulate, however. In 1986, when a group from Coonana made a ceremonial visit to a remote desert site, they discovered fresh footprints. After following the trail for two days, they sighted a family carrying wooden spears and painted with ochre in preparation for ritual. Reunited with kin, the husband and wife recognized relatives among the searchers. The male elder wept quietly upon hearing news of people he had not seen in decades. Relocated to mission settlements, the family of former nomads generated news reports about “the lost people” and “the last desert tribe.” The Sydney Morning Herald reported: “the three sons, the younger woman and her little boy had never seen the modern world before.” Newspaper readers remained blissfully ignorant of a facet of modernity to which the “last huntergatherers on earth,” had been, quite literally, exposed. A thundering shudder the family elder had felt in the wilderness was that of a nuclear weapons test. At the 1984 Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia, Lawrence Pennington’s wife, Myrtle, testified that she also had heard explosions, felt the earth tremble, and seen clouds that had “destroyed” sacred sites. The Royal Commission established that authorities had accepted that indigenous people were traversing the western edge of the prohibited area, making Spinifex people part of an avant-garde. As human subjects in experiments in nuclear technology that dispersed radioactivity and displaced Spinifex people from their homelands, these custodians of an ancient culture had become, simultaneously, cold war moderns. What follows is a narrative of events that entangle Western history with that of the Spinifex people. It is knowledge that transforms our perception of works of art that have been entrusted to our care and which serve as a memento mori of the cold war era.

Terra Nullius for the Atomic Age A final episode in the dispossession of Australia’s first inhabitants unfolded halfway around the world during the late-1940s. With cold war hostilities escalating in Europe, the British government no longer considered economic failure the nation’s primary threat, but rather a potential war with the communist East. Rearmament became a priority, and the atomic bomb its weapon of choice. Atomic proving grounds in Nevada, with their access to US nuclear know-how, were the logical site for a British bomb test.

Left page: Aerial View of Tjuntjuntjara Source: © Photo Courtesy of Spinifex Arts Project and Louise Allerton

However, information sharing on weapons development had ended along with World War II. Australia, which had signed a 1946 agreement for the cooperative development of a rocket testing range, would serve as the ground zero of last resort. When British military authorities arrived in Australia to conduct their first test blast in the Monte Bello Islands, eight kilometers off the northwest coast, the only information source they had consulted about the Aboriginal population was the Encylopaedia Britannica.

Responsibility for insuring the safety of natives, indigenous and otherwise, fell to Australian officials. The scope of their task expanded enormously when Prime Minister Menzies authorized atomic testing within the Woomera Range. Two issues – nuclear ambition and public relations anxiety – would dominate Australian policies affecting Spinifex people for the next decade.

To patrol a 100,000 square kilometer area, the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) at Woomera employed two men: Walter MacDougall, who had worked at missions in the Kimberley and central Australia, and Robert Macaulay, an anthropologist. It was a hopeless task, given its gargantuan scope and laughable resources. To clear desert lands of natives, MacDougall manipulated myths regarding venomous wanampi serpents and the evil spirits called mamu. He informed nomads that atomic bombs had released a deadly mamu poison across the Woomera landscape. Told by officials and their indigenous guides that the land had been “poisoned” by nuclear testing, Spinifex people left their homelands for mission life in ever-greater numbers. Those who remained felt increasingly isolated and insecure in the desert, having lost the youths needed to parent new generations and the elders whose sacred knowledge provided protection in a landscape teeming with spiritual forces. The indigenous diaspora from lands that “the bomb finished,” accelerated what one anthropologist has called the “process of lifestyle disintegration” triggered by contact with Euro-Australian society generations earlier.

Homeward Bound For Spinifex people consigned to missions, nomadic mobility took new forms.

Cundeelee mission, a government ration depot and the repository for many of those removed from Spinifex homelands, inadvertently preserved indigenous culture due to a meager level of subsidy. Insufficient food rations compelled residents to maintain their hunting and foraging skills. Reliance on firewood for fuel compelled nomadic residency patterns as resources at a given site became exhausted. After a stinging federal indictment of the settlement facilities, in the mid-1970s the Australian Evangelical Mission withdrew. Residents were relocated to Coonana, a former pastoral station situated in a landscape completely alien to the community it served.

The multiple relocations of Spinifex exiles occurred as other first Australians were mobilizing to reclaim their heritage and homelands. During the 1970s, thousands of Aboriginals, encouraged by new government policies of self-determination, abandoned government settlements to return “back to country” in an epoch-defining outstation movement. For Spinifex people, a return to ancestral lands had life-or-death implications. With a compensation award from the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia, the Spinifex community built their road back home. Elder Simon Hogan trekked three hundred kilometers to the northern margin of Spinifex country, blazing a path from rock hole to rock hole as his son followed behind driving a road grader. The new route permitted access to Tjuntjuntjara, bringing the Spinifex people’s “long days,” as they call their recent history, full circle. Life there soon conformed to seasonal rhythms, with sojourns for ceremonial ‘business,’ and crosscountry travel to hunt, harvest medicinal plants and collect the ochre, feathers and stones used in ceremonies.

Elders not only led their people back to their spiritual homelands, but also assumed the functions of a political and artistic avant-garde. In 1992, a landmark decision

by the Australian High Court overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius. Within a year, Spinifex people launched their homeland claim. In 1997, with their native title application underway, community members born in Spinifex Country began painting to document their territorial custodianship. Discussions of Tjukurpa (“Dreamings�) preoccupied the new artists as they worked through the day and into the night. The resulting works, crafted explicitly for the public disclosure of the birthrights associated with sacred places, had no historical precedent for Spinifex people or their culture. Two heroically scaled collaborative paintings were unveiled at the signing of a native title agreement in July 1998 at Miramiratjara in a remote northeastern corner of Spinifex country.

A market for Spinifex works emerged between 1999 and 2000 when a traveling exhibition featuring the native title paintings toured Australian cities. Spinifex works feature a vivid iconography depicting the footprints, pathways, and animal silhouettes of Tjukurpa that have been purged from the artistic output of other Aboriginal art collectives. Today, Toyota Land Cruisers return the artists to country for plein air painting camps where a group of senior women might stake out a spot on a sand dune

at a salt lake to sing and paint its Dreaming into life. The vital bond with country and its expression in art has endured the fluctuations of political regimes and art markets because it is nothing less than the lived truth of Spinifex people. Its most eloquent spokesman still remains the last Spinifex elder to abandon nomadic life. In 1987 he explained the relationship to the land and its sacred law to a reporter. “It was good out there. Good country.I looked after my country.” Without its people, the land had been left “an orphan,” roaming and lost “without parents to go to.” With resettlement at Tjuntjuntjara and the resumption of custodial rituals, the land had recovered its caretakers, and the caretakers their life-world. A newspaper account of the elder’s first visit to his homeland after abandoning nomadic life conveys the ecstacy of reunion with country for one of its custodians: “He galloped up the sandhills with ease and began to exude a happiness that his people had never seen before.”

8 March 2016 About the Author Greg Castillo, an architectural and design historian, is an Associate Professor at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkley, and a Research Associate at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia. His work has focused on design politics in the early cold war era and the counterculture moment of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He has delivered public lectures at the New York Museum of Modern Art, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery of Denmark and universities internationally.

The author owes a debt of gratitude to Ian Baird, Amanda Dent, Robyn and Mattias Kelch, Fred Myers, Terry Smith, and Henry Skerritt for their comments and corrections.

An extended version of this essay appeared in Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture as ‘Spinifex People as Cold War Moderns.’

Previous Page: Paint Boxes of Spinifex Artists Left page: Road to Tjuntjuntjara, Great Victoria Desert Source: © Photos Courtesy of Amanda Dent - Spinifex Arts Project

Lawrence Pennington with Completed Men’s Collaborative Painting (14004) Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Amanda Dent - Spinifex Arts Project

Lawrence PENNINGTON Birth Date Language Place of Birth Skin/Clan

circa 1934 Pitjantjatjara Urlu Pitjantjatjara

At the time of Lawrence Pennington’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional huntergatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for.

He was born just outside of the north-eastern boundary of Spinifex at a place called Urlu circa 1934. Running through Lawrence’s stretch of country is the Walawuru (wedge-tailed eagle) Dreaming. Not surprisingly, the dominant topographical feature in Lawrence’s country is a string of craggy-topped breakaways. In parallel alignment off to the south run a series of thinly connected dry salt lakes and naturally underscoring these features reddish sand plains. Depending on the character of the light, Lawrence’s country can at different times appear hauntingly bleak or magnificently beautiful.

Like his contemporaries, Lawrence was pulled in to Cundeelee Mission during the sweeps in the late 1950s. He came in a young Wati (initiated man), married late in Cundeelee and had one son. Lawrence painted in the early years, collaboratively and individually before leaving Tjuntjuntjara for about 7 years. He returned on a permanent basis when his son went through Men’s Law at Tjuntjuntjara.

Collections Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Harriett & Richard England Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.

Patrick Corrigan Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

W. & V. McGeoch Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Wagner and Owen Collection, United States of America Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2016 Wati Wara – Lawrence Pennington Solo - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2015 Spinifex Arts Project 2015 - Aboriginal & Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Tarnanthi – Festival of Comtemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Wo das Stachelkopfgras wächst – Art Kelch, Freiburg, Germany.

Kulunypa – selected small works from the Spinifex Arts Project - Outstation

Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

2014 Spinifex Artists 2014 - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

Spinifex Arts Project 2014 - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Tjuntjuntjara – recent works from Spinifex Country - Short Street Gallery,

Broome, WA, Australia.

Spinifex Tjukurpa - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Pila – Spinifex Land - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Spinifex Artists – Desert Mob Exhibition - Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Tjuntjuntjara Nguratja – Tjuntjuntjara is home - Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley,

Idaho, United States of America.

2013 Spinifex Arts Project - Art Kelch, Freiburg, Munich, Hamburg, Bodensee, Lake

2013 Constance, Germany (Touring Exhibition).

The Wild Ones - Raft Artplace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Kuwaritja – New Works of the Spinifex People - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Spinifex Artists – Desert Mob Exhibition - Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Salon des Refusés - Outstation Gallery & Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

2012 Tupun Nguranguru – People of the Sandhill Country - Vivien Anderson Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Spinifex – People of the Sun and Shadow - John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University,

Perth, WA, Australia.

2005 Law and Land - Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art (AAMU), Utrecht, Netherlands.

2002 Putitja Nguru – Art of the Spinifex People - Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

2001 Broken Hill City Regional Art Gallery, Broken Hill, NSW, Australia.

All About Art - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Flinders Arts Museum, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

2000 Pila Nguru – Art and Song of the Spinifex People - Western Australian Museum,

Perth, WA, Australia (Touring Exhibition).

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Acrylic on Linen 200 x 137cm 15-201

Lawrence Pennington is a senior Pitjantjatjara man from Mituna in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia in an area known as the Spinifex Lands.

Growing up as a young boy in this country and then following his initiations as a young man has given Lawrence intimate knowledge of the sites, the stories and the features of the Spinifex Lands. As a senior traditional owner of Mituna, he is allowed to speak for this place and has painted it here in this major work. The painting details other sites of significance in the vicinity of Mituna including many small rockholes, which fill with water only after rain. Along the creek lines are trees kurku (mulga) and kurkara (desert oaks).

In significant painting such as this, much of the detail placed into the work is miil-miilpa (dangerously sacred) and cannot be elaborated. Lawrence will identify the major sites shown, leaving the knowledge about what is at, or passes through that site, known only to those who have the status to already know. At Mituna several Tjukurpas are present including Wati Kutjara (the serpent men from Pukara) and Kalaya (Emu beings).

Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Work In Progress (15-201)

Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Amanda Dent - Spinifex Arts Project

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Acrylic on Linen 200 x 137cm 15-223

Lawrence Pennington is a senior Pitjantjatjara man from Mituna in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia in an area known as the Spinifex Lands.

Growing up as a young boy in this country and then following his initiations as a young man has given Lawrence intimate knowledge of the sites, the stories and the features of the Spinifex Lands. As a senior traditional owner of Mituna, he is allowed to speak for this place and has painted it here in this major work. The painting details other sites of significance in the vicinity of Mituna including many small rockholes, which fill with water only after rain. Along the creek lines are trees kurku (mulga) and kurkara (desert oaks).

In significant painting such as this, much of the detail placed into the work is miil-miilpa (dangerously sacred) and cannot be elaborated. Lawrence will identify the major sites shown, leaving the knowledge about what is at, or passes through that site, known only to those who have the status to already know. At Mituna several Tjukurpas are present including Wati Kutjara (the serpent men from Pukara) and Kalaya (Emu beings).

Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Work in Progress (15-223)

Source: Š Photo Courtesy of ReDot Fine Art Gallery

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 137 x 90cm 14246

Lawrence Pennington has painted Pukara, which is a major Spinifex site on the northern boundary of the Spinifex Lands. At Pukara, Two Men (Wati Kutjara), a father and a son travel across the country, their presence is a powerful one. As a child the son was teased and grew up to have a menacing look in his eyes. The people were scared and appealed to the father to take him away as he had become dangerous. One day the son arose early and in the morning fog to set a trap for the people, luring them in close with the sound and smell of Kalyinpa-kalyinpa and ultultkunpa, sweet foods. As people came close the son ate them. To this day people approach the rockhole here with great care making sure the snakes are settled down with smoke first.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Acrylic on Linen 137 x 90cm 15-25

Lawrence Pennington, a senior initiated man from Spinifex has painted his country of Mituta, the place of his birth. The large concentric circle forms represent the main rockhole with smaller water sources represented off to the sides. The Two Men travelled to Mituna via Kumpakura and Mantamata. At Mituna they sat and cooked up some dog meat.

As with many Spinifex Tjukurpa, places are linked through story and geography. In this case, Mituta is clearly linked to a well-known Western Desert area called Pukara.

Pukara is a site in which two large snakes, a father and son are travelling on initiation business. The places Lawrence paints are often sacred or have sacred aspects to them and as such details are sketchy.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Nyuman Acrylic on Linen 137 x 90cm 15-155

Nyangatja punu katu ka walawuruku ngura ka ngura ini Nyuman ka panya walawuru palaru katu nyarinyi tjaru ngurini ka ngayuku ngura munu walawuruku ngura.

There are many tall trees which is the home of the wedge tail eagle and this particular site is called Nyuman, the place and tjukurpa of the wedge tail eagle (or the Walawuru tjukurpa). The eagle soars high above while searching the ground below. Lawrence Pennington says, “This place belongs to me and the eagle.” The trees are represented by the lines and the circles beyond are the rock holes where water can be found.

Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 110 x 90cm 13181

Nyangatja Wati Kutjara ka Wanampi Kutjara ka mama munu katja Pukaranguru ka Pukara kapi piti pulkana ka pula panya tjina ankupai inma inkanyi ka kapi piti kutjupa kutjupa ka Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa pulka mulapa ngura kutjupa kutjupa Tjukurpa mulapa.

This is the Two Men or Two Water Serpent Men from creation time. They are a father and son pair who came from a place called Pukara, a large waterhole and travelled to numerous other waterholes performing ceremony. The story of the Two Men is large and traverses a great amount of country. It is a true story.

In this story, the son is speared in his side for misbehaving. Lawrence Pennington mentions minyma timpu timpu (a small marsupial) also passing through this country.  

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Tuwan Acrylic on Linen 110 x 83cm 14073

Lawrence Pennington has painted country in the northern part of the Spinifex claim area, a waterhole called Tuwan. The places Lawrence paints are often sacred or have sacred aspects to them and as such details are sketchy. Here he mentions the Wati Kutjara (Two Snake Men) who passed by here. He has also depicted kapi itari, the flowing creeks which fill the rock holes after rains. Often the creeks and snakes are indistinguishable as the snakes made the creeks - so the creeks are the snakes. There are also tall trees which hold water in their roots.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Watala Acrylic on Linen 110 x 90cm 14074

Lawrence Pennington has painted country in the northern part of the Spinifex claim area, a waterhole called Watala. The places Lawrence paints are often sacred or have sacred aspects to them and as such details are sketchy. Lawrence has mentioned certain elements of the story associated with Watala which involves Minyma Nyii-Nyii (Zebra Finch women) who are abundant here and sitting around when the man who stole the fire came through. This is miil-miilpa (dangerously sacred) and can only be mentioned briefly.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 110 x 85cm 14210

Lawrence Pennington has painted Pukara, which is a major Spinifex site on the northern boundary of the Spinifex Lands. At Pukara, Two Men (Wati Kutjara), a father and a son travel across the country, their presence is a powerful one. As a child the son was teased and grew up to have a menacing look in his eyes. The people were scared and appealed to the father to take him away as he had become dangerous. One day the son arose early and in the morning fog to set a trap for the people, luring them in close with the sound and smell of Kalyinpa-kalyinpa and ultultkunpa, sweet foods. As people came close the son ate them. To this day people approach the rockhole here with great care making sure the snakes are settled down with smoke first.

The large circle symbolises the main rockhole of Pukara and the smaller surrounding circles other water holes in the vicinity. The father and son are depicted as blue wavy line and the single line symbolises the son. The path way they travelled is represented by the blue and white dots.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Nyuman Acrylic on Linen 110 x 85cm 14219

Nyangatja punu katu ka walawuruku ngura ka ngura ini Nyuman ka panya walawuru palaru katu nyarinyi tjaru ngurini ka ngayuku ngura munu walawuruku ngura.

There are many tall trees which is the home of the wedge tail eagle and this particular site is called Nyuman, the place and tjukurpa of the wedge tail eagle (or the Walawuru tjukurpa). The eagle soars high above while searching the ground below. Lawrence Pennington says, “This place belongs to me and the eagle.” The trees are represented by the lines and the circles beyond are the rockholes where water can be found.

Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Acrylic on Linen 110 x 85cm 15-30

Lawrence Pennington, a senior initiated man from Spinifex has painted sites associated with the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Serpent Men from Pukara). These serpent men are a father and son pair who are travelling through the land. They stop at Ngakata, a rockhole with deep water.

As with many Spinifex Tjukurpa, places are linked through story and geography. In this case, Mituta is clearly linked to a well-known Western Desert area called Pukara.

Pukara is a site in which two large snakes, a father and son are travelling on initiation business. The places Lawrence paints are often sacred or have sacred aspects to them and as such details are sketchy.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 110 x 85cm 15-41

The Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa is one of the most important and extensive stories from the Western Desert region and has played a major role in the formation, character and religious significance of the entire Spinifex area.

Two wanampi (serpent beings), a father and a son from Pukara are travelling together on initiation and ceremonial business. The father is accompanying his son as he sets out on what will be the most significant and powerful journey of his life in a tribal setting. As the two snakes travel across the country, they are involved in a range of actions and events that have given rise to the geographical and mythological landscape present and maintained to this day.

At Pukara, while the father was sleeping the Anangu children from the area crept into the camp. They called out relentlessly taunting the son, teasing him and saying his eyes were bulging like eggs. The son, who was already unstable got wild and hit out at the children. In a frenzy he killed and ate them one by one and then threw up.

Being a major sacred site, much of the detail placed into the work is miil-miilpa (dangerously sacred) and cannot be elaborated. In documenting a work such as this, Lawrence will identify the major sites shown, leaving the knowledge about what is at, or passes through that site, known only to those who have the status to already know.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 110 x 83cm 15-154

The Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa is one of the most important and extensive stories from the Western Desert region and has played a major role in the formation, character and religious significance of the entire Spinifex area.

Two wanampi (serpent beings), a father and a son from Pukara are travelling together on initiation and ceremonial business. The father is accompanying his son as he sets out on what will be the most significant and powerful journey of his life in a tribal setting. As the two snakes travel across the country, they are involved in a range of actions and events that have given rise to the geographical and mythological landscape present and maintained to this day.

At Pukara, while the father was sleeping the Anangu children from the area crept into the camp. They called out relentlessly taunting the son, teasing him and saying his eyes were bulging like eggs. The son, who was already unstable got wild and hit out at the children. In a frenzy he killed and ate them one by one and then threw up.

Being a major sacred site, much of the detail placed into the work is miil-miilpa (dangerously sacred) and cannot be elaborated. In documenting a work such as this, Lawrence will identify the major sites shown, leaving the knowledge about what is at, or passes through that site, known only to those who have the status to already know.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 13232

Lawrence is senior Spinifex man who has painted the country where he was born and some of the significant sites in the surrounding country such as Pukara. Pukara is a major Spinifex site and has the story of Wati Kutjara or the “Two Men� running through it. These are Wanampi, mythical Serpent Men. Here he has depicted the father who awoke to find his son has gone. The father was concerned for the well-being of his son who was known for being aggressive and unpredictable.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 14054

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilization. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence has painted the site of Pukara here, a significant Tjukurpa traversing huge distances across the Spinifex Lands. The story involves a father and son wanampi (water serpents).

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 14112

Nyangatja kaliny-kalinypa ngura Pukaranya ka Wati Kutjara Pukaralanguru ka palatja panya katja Pukaralanguru.

This painting is depicting the honey grevillea (grevillea eriostachya) that is growing at Pukara. Pukara is the place where the Two Men come from. Shown here are those men, the father and son.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence paints many sites in Spinifex country including Mituna, Nyuman (Walawaru The Eagle Man), Piralungka, Mina-Mina, Kurlii, Karatjara, Pukara, Kalaya Piti and Karnka.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 14113

Nyangatja Mituna Wati Kutjara mama munu katja Pukaralanguru wiltja palyalpai ngura kutjupa kutjupa ka pula panya wiltja palyanu Mituna ka katjangku mungangka wirtjipakanu pikatingurini.

This painting is depicting Mituna. The Two Men who were travelling from Pukara to Mituna stopped and made camp at the different places along the way. When they stopped and made camp at Mituna, the son waited until the middle of the night, then arose and ran off looking for trouble.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 14162

Lawrence has painted country in the northern portion of the Spinifex Lands, the place of Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa, the two Serpent Men ancestral beings. The two men, a father and his son, travelled this area from Pukara to Mituna. Many of the land formations in this region were created as a consequence of these men’s antics. The son was in process of becoming a man through initiation ritual. He was becoming dangerous and powerful. Pukara is a dangerous place and must be approached with great respect as these men still have a strong presence here.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Nyuman Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 14203

Nyangatja punu katu ka walawuruku ngura ka ngura ini Nyuman ka panya walawuru palaru katu nyarinyi tjaru ngurini ka ngayuku ngura munu walawuruku ngura.

There are many tall trees which is the home of the wedge tail eagle and this particular site is called Nyuman, the place and tjukurpa of the wedge tail eagle (or the Walawuru tjukurpa). The eagle soars high above while searching the ground below. Lawrence Pennington says, “This place belongs to me and the eagle.” The trees are represented by the lines and the circles beyond are the rockholes where water can be found.

Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-45

Nyangatja Wati Kutjara ka Wanampi Kutjara ka mama munu katja Pukaranguru ka Pukara kapi piti pulkana ka pula panya tjina ankupai inma inkanyi ka kapi piti kutjupa kutjupa ka Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa pulka mulapa ngura kutjupa kutjupa Tjukurpa mulapa.

This is the Two Men or Two Water Serpent Men from creation time. They are a father and son pair who came from a place called Pukara, a large waterhole and travelled to numerous other waterholes performing ceremony. The story of the Two Men is large and traverses a great amount of country. It is a true story.

In this work Lawrence Pennington has drawn the Two Men (lines) next to the large rockhole which represents Pukara. The son has a kali (boomerang).

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-53

This is Pukara, a very sacred men’s site in the northern part of the Spinifex Lands.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Wipiya Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-74

In this painting, Lawrence Pennington has painted wipiya at Mituna. Wipiya are fluffy emu feathers, which relate to the Kalaya Tjukurpa as the Emu men pass through here.

Traditionally emu feathers were used to wrap minkurpa, a tobacco plant which grows wild in certain rocky parts of the desert and has a slightly narcotic affect.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Watjara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-92

Lawrence Pennington has painted the country where he grew up and lived as a young man. The painting is centred on the rockholes at Watjara, Mituna and Wakalpukatjara where the Kalaya (Emu) story passes.

Watjara is a large rockhole and there are also numerous small holes in the area which hold surface water after rains. The Kalaya from Mituna are a different group of emus from the ones which passed through Ilkurlka, although this group are all part of the same overall Kalaya story. After leaving Mituna this group of emus headed north east where they met up with other Kalaya gathering together.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-93

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated Spinifex man who has painted the country where he was born and some of the significant sites in the surrounding country such as Pukara. Pukara is a major Spinifex site and has the story of Wati Kutjara or the “Two Men� running through it. Lawrence also indicates the rockholes Ngalkan, Kampukurtja, Karnka, Nyuman and Mituna.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Nyuman Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-106

Nyangatja punu katu ka walawuruku ngura ka ngura ini Nyuman ka panya walawuru palaru katu nyarinyi tjaru ngurini ka ngayuku ngura munu walawuruku ngura.

There are many tall trees which is the home of the wedge tail eagle and this particular site is called Nyuman, the place and tjukurpa of the wedge tail eagle (or the Walawuru tjukurpa). The eagle soars high above while searching the ground below. Lawrence Pennington says, “This place belongs to me and the eagle.” The trees are represented by the lines and the circles beyond are the rock holes where water can be found.

Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior initiated man from Spinifex country. At the time of Lawrence’s birth in the early 1930’s, his people, the Spinifex people had no contact with Western civilisation. Lawrence grew up as a young boy living a fully traditional hunter-gatherer life. His initiations as a young man in this country have given Lawrence intimate knowledge in a physical as well as a spiritual sense of the sites and stories of the area he was born and responsible for. Lawrence’s works possess a rare power that stem from this deep connection to culture and country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Pukara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-107

In this painting, Lawrence Pennington paints part of the Wati Kutjara (Two Serpent Men) journey as it passes through his country. This story cannot be elaborated on due to its sacred nature but it can be said that it relates to a pair of father and son serpent men and particular type of tjuratja (sweet substance found on trees).

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-116

Nyangatja Mituna Wati Kutjara mama munu katja Pukaralanguru wiltja palyalpai ngura kutjupa kutjupa ka pula panya wiltja palyanu Mituna ka katjangku mungangka wirtjipakanu pikati ngurini.

This painting is depicting Mituna. The Two Men who were travelling from Pukara to Mituna stopped and made camp at the different places along the way. When they stopped and made camp at Mituna, the son waited until the middle of the night, then arose and ran off looking for trouble.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Mituna Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-145

Lawrence Pennington has painted his birthplace of Mituna, where the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Men Creation Line) passes. Mituna is in East of the traditional Spinifex Lands. Lawrence has cultural and totemic responsibilities for this major site and has intimate knowledge of the surrounding country.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Ngalta Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-150

In this work, Lawrence Pennington has painted ngalta, the desert kurrajong in Spinifex Lands surrounded by smaller water holes. The kurrajong was a very important plant to the traditional nomadic people of this country as both a food and water source. The seeds, once gathered and cleaned, were parched in ashes and coals and ground into a paste, while the roots were a source of emergency water.

Lawrence PENNINGTON

Wati Kutjara Acrylic on Linen 75 x 60cm 15-152

Nyangatja Wati Kutjara ka Wanampi Kutjara ka mama munu katja Pukaranguru ka Pukara kapi piti pulkana ka pula panya tjina ankupai inma inkanyi ka kapi piti kutjupa kutjupa ka Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa pulka mulapa ngura kutjupa kutjupa Tjukurpa mulapa.

This is the Two Men or Two Water Serpent Men from creation time. They are a father and son pair who came from a place called Pukara, a large waterhole, and travelled to numerous other waterholes, performing ceremony. The story of the Two Men is large and traverses a great amount of country. It is a true story.

Works in Progress for the Show Wati Wara

Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Amanda Dent - Spinifex Arts Project

Works in Progress for the Show Wati Wara

Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Amanda Dent - Spinifex Arts Project

Mr. Lawrence Pennington Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Stephen Oxenbury 2014

In collaboration with In conjunction with

Supported by

and with special thanks to Lawrence

Lawrence Pennington Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Spinifex Arts Project

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