Tjintu Kutjupa Tjintu Kutjupa - Desert Days

ReDot Fine Art Gallery in collaboration with Tjungu Palya Arts presents

Tjintu Kutjupa Tjintu Kutjupa - Desert Days

25 th September - 19 th October 2013

For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of the 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

f i n e

i n d i g e n o u s

a r t

Welcome to Nyapari, where Tjungu Palya is Located

Terrence Kemp and Clinton Stevens Dancing at Piltati Rockhole

“People paint the stories that belong to them, which have been handed down to them by their families.

They don’t paint just any story and they don’t paint other people’s stories. We talk about stories as we’re painting and sometimes people sing the songs that go together with those stories.

Everybody’s got different stories from their own places and each canvas might be a different part of the same story.”

A Day in the Desert.

First thing we do is wake up and make a cup of tea. We might make a big pot or billy can and share it around.

The kids have to get ready for school; they get on the school bus and go off to school.

Then we head to the area outside the store and wait for the Art Centre Toyota to come and pick us up.

We make paintings during the day. People paint stories from all over this region, from Kanpi, Nyapari, Watarru, some people from the Western Australian side and also the East of the APY Lands. Stories from all over the place. People paint the stories that belong to them, which have been handed down to them by their families. They don’t paint just any story and they don’t paint other people’s stories. We talk about stories as we’re painting and sometimes people sing the songs that go together with those stories. Everybody’s got different stories from their own places and each canvas might be a different part of the same story.

We spend time thinking about what we’re going to paint, what colours we want to paint with, that represent those stories. We talk a lot but also paint quietly with own thoughts, thinking about country and the special stories we hold inside.

When people paint they are always chewing mingkulpa, a special kind of plant.

Mingkupa gets shared around with everyone.

To get the mingkulpa, we go round out bush looking for the mingkulpa plants - green leafy ones with small white flowers.

We collect it and take home and put it outside to get dry. We’ll always share it out.

Except if it’s the last one; then we keep it for ourselves!!

We break up the dry plant with our hands and grind it down with the palm of the hand. Then it gets mixed with the ashes of a particular tree, a good tree with white ashes. Minkulpa is important for Anangu.

After painting, when the kids come home from school we might get water and flour for the road, and go looking for Maku (wichetty grub). We look for signs of where the Maku are. If you see the shed skins of other grubs that have turned into butterfly on the ground, you know there’s a big mob of Maku underneath in the roots of the tree. That’s where you dig.

We always make a fire and cook there in the bush. We wait for the fire to finish and cook damper in the coals. Some people like to eat cooked Maku, some like it raw.

The kids love the big ones.

Then we bring the rest back home and give them to family.

Sit outside by the fire and have some dinner and tea and go to bed. Goodnight.

Story by Maureen Baker, Elaine Woods and Janice Woods.

Keith Stevens and Kids on the Track to Piltati Rockhole

Tjintu Kutjupa Tjintu Kutjupa - Desert Days

ReDot Fine Art Gallery is honoured and excited to be able to release a stunning body of works from the heart of the Modern Contemporary Indigenous Art movement. Tjungu Palya is an artist-run art-centre, in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the far north west of South Australia.

With many of their artists ‘first contact’ bush people, they retain strong cultural knowledge and a willingness to share what is appropriate to people of other cultures.

Promoting traditional arts practices while also encouraging new forms of artistic expression in the re-telling of the Tjukurpa (‘Dreaming’ - Law), the stories virtually leap off each canvas, begging the viewer to look more deeply for meaning and consequence.

Tjintu Kutjupa Tjintu Kutjupa - Desert Days, brings some of the most important Indigenous artists of the day to Singapore in a collection of gems that resonate with an abundance of cultural integrity, vivid colours, mesmerising designs and deep knowledge, encapsulating a celebration of ceremony, ancestry and landscape.

As children, the now senior Tjungu Palya artists lived a traditional nomadic life travelling in small family groups. Their traditional lifestyle continued until the 1930s, when desert people were migrated to Ernabella and Warburton missions, initially as a result of the assimilation policy of the day but also due to terrible drought and the atomic testing at Maralinga.

The desire to return to their own country remained critical to the community elders throughout this time, and by the 1960s families began returning to their lands and establishing small remote settlements. In spite of the interruption, the extreme remoteness of this area and the continued connection to the land has contributed to the maintenance of an Aboriginal lifestyle rich in ceremonies and traditional observances.

Tjungu Palya artists have powerful spiritual links to their country, and produce paintings that are exuberant and have highly individual compositions depicting their myth cycles embedded in the topography of the land. Join us to be mesmerized by this latest journey through the Australian outback as we look at works by highly collectable master of the Modern Indigenous Art movement as well as new starlets that have emerged over the last few years to carry the torch of this Art movement forward with vigor and much positive expectations despite the challenging times that lie ahead for these nomadic, cultural warriors!

Giorgio Pilla Director ReDot Fine Art Gallery

Kay BAKER

Kalaya Tjukurpa Acrylic on Linen 194 x 164cm 12007

This is Kalaya Tjukurpa (the creation story of the Emu man). The father emu hid all his children in the bush.

He told the kipara (bush turkey man) that he had deliberately dropped his kids and then eaten them. He persuaded the kipara to do the same. The kipara only had one son. Ngaltutjara (poor thing)! When the kipara saw the emu chicks running around he was really angry.

The kipara was throwing rocks at the kalaya. Where he chased him along throwing rocks a creek was formed.

The kalaya was pikatjara (sick). The country where he was lying down vomiting is marked by a clay pan.

Maringka BAKER

Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 100cm 12545

SGD16,000 (excluding GST)

Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa (the creation story of the two sisters). The big sister was travelling with her younger sister back to their homeland. The little sister was reluctant to head further and further north as she had been living with a different family near the ocean to the south. She had been lost a long time and didn’t know this country the big sister was showing her.

Her sister gave her a piggyback and tried to comfort her. She was teaching her all about the country they travelled through. Sometimes when they stopped they performed Inma (sacred singing and dancing). They camped at Punuwara and Irrunytju rockhole before heading further north to Docker River.

Maureen BAKER

Ngayuku Mamaku Ngura (My Father’s Country) Acrylic on Linen 150 x 120cm 13323

SGD3,750 (excluding GST)

This is my father’s country near Tjukurla and Kulkurdaare. There are many stories and many people have travelled across this country in the old times.

There are waterholes and lakes and underground creeks and travelling tracks. It is an important place. I can’t say much more about it because it’s sacred territory.

Maureen BAKER

Ngayuku Mamaku Ngura (My Father’s Country) Acrylic on Linen 100 x 100cm 13327

SGD2,000 (excluding GST)

This is my father’s country near Tjukurla and Kulkurdaare. There are many stories and many people have travelled across this country in the old times.

There are waterholes and lakes and underground creeks and travelling tracks. It is an important place. I can’t say much more about it because it’s sacred territory.

Teresa BAKER

Minyma Malilunya Acrylic on Linen 150 x 100cm 13318

SGD6,250 (excluding GST)

This is the country for Malilu. She is a creation being from the Tjukurpa (Dreamtime). Minyma Malilu nyinanyi wana ngka munu piti (the woman Malilu is sitting with her digging stick and collecting bowl). She has been dancing, performing Inma important ceremonial dancing for this country and she has left her dancing tracks behind in the sand.

Malilu was a crippled woman and her two daughters had run off to get married, leaving her to fend for herself. It was very hard for her to collect bush foods and water because she had to drag her leg as she walked. Through much effort she collected kampurarpa, wiriny-wirinypa, tawalpa munu mai kutjupakutjupa (desert rasins, bush tomatoes, berries and many different kinds of wild foods).

Teresa BAKER

Kalaya Tjukurpa (Emu Dreaming) Acrylic on Linen 150 x 100cm 12264

SGD5,250 (excluding GST)

Kalaya Tjukurpa (Emu Creation story). Emu Creation story made this country around Kanpi - where I live.

The Emu man tricked the Kipara (bush turkey man) into doing away with his children. There are rocky outcrops that form the hills surrounding Kanpi. In the gorge there is a special place called Kanpi rock hole. When it rains the water cascades down like a waterfall. First water fills up the first rock hole and then flows on to the second hole and then the third.

I have learned this from my grandfather Jimmy Baker, who took me all around this country when I was a child and taught me the Tjukurpa (Aboriginal Law). Tjukurpa mulapa (this law is true).

Angkaliya CURTIS

Billynya Acrylic on Linen 200 x 120cm 12479

SGD14,500 (excluding GST)

Ngayuku mitaku ngurangka (this is my country from my husband) a place called Cave Hill. There are many animals living in this desert country and their tracks are everywhere. There is a lot of water here too, it’s a precious place.

My husband Billynya and I travelled on a camel from the mission in Ernabella to Cave Hill.

Angkaliya CURTIS

Cave Hill Acrylic on Linen 150 x 100cm 13033

SGD8,750 (excluding GST)

Ngayuku mitaku ngurangka (this is my country from my husband) a place called Cave Hill. There are many animals living in this desert country and their tracks are everywhere. There is a lot of water here too, it’s a precious place.

My husband Billynya and I travelled on a camel from the mission in Ernabella to Cave Hill.

Angkaliya CURTIS

Billynya Acrylic on Linen 100 x 100cm 13326

SGD5,750 (excluding GST)

Ngayuku mitaku ngurangka (this is my country from my husband) a place called Cave Hill. Cave Hill is an important site for the Seven Sisters dreaming story.

The sisters were running away from Wati Nyiru (the cheeky man), they hid in the cave there and the big sister used her wana (digging stick) to make a hole to escape through the back of the cave.

Cave Hill ta tjukurla tjuta ngaranyi. There is a lot of water here too, many rockholes and connecting creeks and water courses. It’s a precious place.

My husband Billynya and I travelled on a camel from the mission in Ernabella to Cave Hill.

Angkaliya CURTIS

Billynya Acrylic on Linen 100 x 100cm 13334

SGD5,750 (excluding GST)

Ngayuku mitaku ngurangka (this is my country from my husband) a place called Cave Hill. Cave Hill is an important site for the Seven Sisters dreaming story.

The sisters were running away from Wati Nyiru (the cheeky man), they hid in the cave there and the big sister used her wana (digging stick) to make a hole to escape through the back of the cave.

Cave Hill ta tjukurla tjuta ngaranyi. There is a lot of water here too, many rockholes and connecting creeks and water courses. It’s a precious place.

My husband Billynya and I travelled on a camel from the mission in Ernabella to Cave Hill.

Ruth FATT

Kuru Ala Acrylic on Linen 200 x 120cm 11288

SGD7,500 (excluding GST)

This is Kuru Ala a sacred place for the Seven Sisters story. Minyma tjuta tjilkulpai irititja (all the women have been to the waterhole to drink, in the early days). This is a large country, with small rockholes and creeklines amongst the red rocky hills. There is one large waterhole where the women are camping.

The women spotted a quandong tree they hadn’t noticed before and rushed over to it as it was full of beautiful ripe fruit. When they picked it they realised that it was Nyiiru (the man following the sisters). That quandong tree is from the Tjukurpa - watiku, that man was tricking them. He is really a magic man. Danger.

Beryl JIMMY

Kapi Tjukula Munu Tali Tjuta Acrylic on Linen 200 x 120cm 11270

SGD9,500 (excluding GST)

Nyangatja tjukula tjuta munu tali tjuta. Irititja Anangu tjutangku ankupai kapi tjukula kutjupa kutjupa ka tjana maiku, kapiku, kukaku mantjupai. Ngayuku ngura Watarru.

This is my country close to Watarru. There are many rockholes and sand dunes. In the early days the Anangu (Aboriginal ) people would travel by foot from rock hole to rock hole, collecting food and water.

Beryl JIMMY

Nyangatja Watarru Acrylic on Linen 150 x 100cm 13234

SGD6,250 (excluding GST)

Nyangatja Watarru (this is a place called Watarru).

Watarru is my home. This is Anangu tjuta (many people).

Anangu tjuta are moving around, moving between waterholes and creeks, and looking for food. They go out in the daytime, looking around that country, looking through the bush. They look for food and bring what they find back to the kids at the camp.

When the water finishes at one place, they move on to the next waterhole. If there’s no water, they keep walking until they find something. Knowing where to find the water is special knowledge. There is water in a lot of unlikely places. There are creeks, waterholes, rockholes, soakages and springs. Kapi wiru (good water).

Beryl JIMMY

Kapi Tjukula Acrylic on Linen 145 x 94cm 12053

SGD5,200 (excluding GST)

Nyangatja tjukula tjuta munu tali tjuta. Irititja Anangu tjutangku ankupai kapi tjukula kutjupa kutjupa ka tjana maiku, kapiku, kukaku mantjupai. Ngayuku ngura Watarru.

This is my country close to Watarru. There are many rockholes and sand dunes. In the early days the Anangu (Aboriginal ) people would travel by foot from rock hole to rock hole, collecting food and water.

Wati Kanayla Acrylic on Linen 120 x 200cm 12407

SGD7,500 (excluding GST)

This is the story for Wati Ka the nephew of Wati Ngintaka Anangu tjuta (many people) k the nephew decided to turn then a big mob of people cha to eat that kuka pulka (big m (grandfather) from the dream “he is not a kanyala, he is a w believe him and kept chasing Pulpal he tricked them and k

David MILLER

anyala, (euro man) he is a (perentie man). When killed that ngintaka at Pulpal into a kanyala (euro), ased him to Inarki wanting meat). At Inarki my tjamu mtime was there, saying wati but those people didn’t g him back to Pulpal. At killed them all with his tail.

Now there is a big rockhole in that place where this happened.

Keith STEVENS

Nyapari Old Time Story Acrylic on Linen 200 x 200cm 12168

SGD18,000 (excluding GST)

My father told me to look after this area. It is Nyapari area. A long time ago, Anagnu ate Malu (Kangaroo), Turkey, Rabbit, Ngintaka (Lizard), Figs and Bush Tomato tjuta. There was no flour or sugar. We were strong then. The men were strong for hunting. The women would get mai (bush food) from under the ground. You can see them in the green section hitting the ground with a stone and digging down to get the tjamata (bush onions). There is a fire close by where they put the mai and then a wiera (bowl) where they put the mai after it has been in the fire. They take it back to the family, you can see them sitting near the centre of the canvas. You can see the creeks everywhere, and Nyapari rockhole and Iwarawra rockhole and Piltati rockhole. Sometimes when you hit the ground near a special tree and water comes up, you collect it and then squeeze it into the rockhole. It is a special substance so that when the emu drinks from the rockhole, the water kills him for us and we can give it to all the family around.

The spirals are Kinara tjuta (many snails) that Wanampi (water snake) eats. You can find those Kinara everywhere, Western Australia, Northern Territory, everywhere.

Keith STEVENS

Piltati Acrylic on Linen 150 x 100cm 12495

SGD7,500 (excluding GST)

This is the Wanampi Tjukurpa (water snake men dreaming) for Nyapari. This place is called Piltati.

Piltati rockhole is just in the hills, really close to the community. The two men are water snakes. Piltati is the main waterhole and those wanampi (snake men) go in one rockhole and can come up in another one.

Also here there is kuyi (harmless small snakes) that have ngura tjuta (many homes). The wanampi love to eat those kuyi. Minyma kutjara (two women) were digging for that big kunyia (carpet python) but it was only those wanampi (watersnake men) tricking. Those women speared the wanampi by accident and he got up and chased them and killed them.

Keith STEVENS

Piltati Acrylic on Linen 100 x 66cm 13315

SGD3,000 (excluding GST)

This is the Wanampi Tjukurpa (water snake men dreaming) for Nyapari. This place is called Piltati.

Piltati rockhole is just in the hills, really close to the community. The two men are water snakes. Piltati is the main waterhole and those wanampi (snake men) go in one rockhole and can come up in another one. Also here there is kuyi (harmless small snakes) that have ngura tjuta (many homes). The wanampi love to eat those kuyi. Minyma kutjara (two women) were digging for that big kunyia (carpet python) but it was only those wanampi (watersnake men) tricking. Those women speared the wanampi by accident and he got up and chased them and killed them.

Keith STEVENS

Piltati Acrylic on Linen 100 x 66cm 13317

SGD3,000 (excluding GST)

This is the Wanampi Tjukurpa (water snake men dreaming) for Nyapari. This place is called Piltati.

Piltati rockhole is just in the hills, really close to the community. There are two men who are brothers, they are Wanampi (water snake) brothers. You can see them there in the middle. The men go hunting in this story and they also sing and dance at their camp. One man says “what about we go and see about the women�. The other says OK Palya (good) and they put down their weapons (woomera, kulata and miru) and go.

There are little waterholes and big boulders and a liitle creek near Nyapari waterhole that you can see. There are also snails, many snails and their tracks. They move around when it rains.

Tjampawa STEVENS

Piltati Acrylic on Linen 100 x 66cm 13319

SGD1,500 (excluding GST)

This is Piltati. Piltati is a very important story about the two wanampi (ancestoral serpents) and their two wives.

The two women travelled everywhere digging for food.

Each day they would dig for kuka upupilypa (tadpoles) or collect wild berries like kampurarpa. They always took food back to their two husbands. One day they got tired of working so hard and thought to themselves “we might not take all this food to the men, maybe we’ll eat some first”. The men got angry with the women for taking so long to bring the food back and decided to trick the women by turning into water snakes. This is the country where this happened.

Keith & Tjampawa STEVENS

Nyapari Tjukurpa Acrylic on Linen 200 x 200cm 12540a-b

SGD15,000 (excluding GST)

My father told me to look after this area. It is Nyapari area. This is my wife and I painting together, we drew it like a map. A long time ago, Anagnu ate Kuka Malu (Kangaroo Meat), turkey, rabbit, Ngintaka (lizard), figs and bush tomato tjuta. No flour or sugar. We were strong then. The men were strong for hunting. The women would get mai from under the ground. You can see them travelling everywhere searching for the food and hitting the ground with a stone and digging down to get the tjamata (bush onions). There is a fire close by where they put the mai and then a wiera (bowl) where they put the mai after it has been in the fire. They take it back to the family. You can see the creeks everywhere, and Nyapari rockhole and Iwarawra rockhole and Piltati rockhole. Sometimes when you hit the ground near a special tree and water comes up, you collect it and then squeeze it into the rockhole. It is a special substance so that when the emu drinks from the rockhole the water kills him for us and we can give it to all the family around. The water is very good in Nyapari area. When it ran out we’d go to Piltati. The spirals are Kinara tjuta (many snails) that Wanumpi eats. You can find those Kinara everywhere.

Mamungari Acrylic on Linen 120 x 200cm 11540

SGD16,500 (excluding GST)

This is Mamungari where ma just past Watarru and is whe would collect bush food.

Here the Mamu are coming are still under the ground. S the ground too. The Mamu m they pop up out of the groun

Bernard TJALKURI

any sorcerer people live, it is ere the mamu (spirit people)

up out of the ground. Some Snakes are coming out of make a hissing sounds as nd.

There are tjitji (children) too, with their spears, from that Dreaming.

There are parts of two dreaming stories in this canvas.

Bernard TJALKURI

Ngura yuunya Acrylic on Linen 100 x 100cm 13159

SGD6,850 (excluding GST)

This is country near Watarru. Kulpi pulka, Kulpi wiru (big cave, great cave).

This is part of the tji tji (children’s) dreaming story. All the children are sitting inside. The women and children are sitting inside. Then they get up and go dancing.

People are coming in from everywhere for the special ceremonies.

Ilpin Acrylic on Linen 118 x 200cm 12214

Nyangatja upu tjuta nyangatja karu pulka karu kulunypa tjuta tjuta Kunamatala munkara nga

SGD17,000 (excluding GST)

This is lots of rocky hills and called Ilpin. There are black very special and is the other I was born. This country is o Nyapari to Watarru. In the T

Ginger WIKILYIRI

karu kutjupa kutjupa tjuta a Ilpinta puli tjuta puli maru ayulu iti ngaringu.

d this is big creeks at a place rocks here. This place is r side of Kunamata where on the back road from Tjukurpa (creation story) for

this place the women from the dreamtime are cleaning out the rock holes.

Ginger WIKILYIRI

Lukupupu (Ant Lion) Acrylic on Linen 150 x 100cm 13344

SGD11,000 (excluding GST)

This is the lukupupu’s area. His tracks are everywhere.

The lukupupu is looking for kuka (meat), like minga (black ants). He is going all around and going home again. In one place you can see one lukupupu in his home, down the bottom there are two lukupupu in their ngura (house/place). One goes one way, another going another way. Going all over the place. Many lukupupu hunting for their dinner. Panangka unngu ankupai, mana anannyi (the lukupupu is skimming over the ground, he moves backwards, bottom first).

Piti tjuta (many holes dug in the ground) nyinapai unngu (they live inside there).

Ginger & Iyawi WIKILYIRI

Husband and Wife Story Acrylic on Linen 200 x 150cm 12550

SGD15,000 (excluding GST)

This is a place called Pukara - it’s the Wanampi (water snake) place. That’s the man snake, and his wife is the smaller one. It’s their place, their story, those two. This country is full of Kaliny-Kalinypa or Honey Grevillea sweet, yellow and orange one. It’s everywhere. The sandhills are the lines. There are trees and rockholes.

It’s a dangerous place this one but beautiful too. The snake is thinking, he’s looking around and saying “these are all my colours, everything in this country”.

Tjintu Kutjupa Tjintu Kutjupa - Desert Days Images from Tjungu Palya

Landscapes around Nyapari & Kanpi Area

Tjintu Kutjupa Tjintu Kutjupa - Desert Days Images from Tjungu Palya cont...

TOP TO BOTTOM (L) Iyawi Wikilyiri in Landscape; Keith Stevens and Ginger Wikilyiri Dancing in Nyapari Creek

(R) Teresa Baker at Malilu’s Cave; Angkaliya Curtis at Tjungu Palya Art Centre

Long Road on the APY Lands

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