 Walangkura "Women's Ceremony" Cat No. 9653 Size = 196 x 290 cm. Acrylic on Linen |
 Walangkura Painting "Women's Ceremony" Cat No. 9653 Size = 196 x 290 cm. Acrylic on Linen |
Tingari Ancestors In the beginning of time a group of old men called the Tingari Ancestors travelled throughout the desert creating sacred sites, and visiting isolated camps to teach Aboriginal people the languages, law and ceremonies which were to be rigidly adhered to and passed down to their descendants by word of mouth, singing and dancing in sacred ceremonies. To this day it remains the most secret and sacred of all the desert 'dreamings' and although artists are now depicting the Tingari exploits in paintings on canvas, they will reveal little, if any information which would allow outsiders to interpret the meanings. The Tingari men were accompanied by young boys who were to be initiated at various sites along the way, and men of varying degrees of initiation who were yet to complete the age grading rites which would allow them to become men of high degree or 'old' men. The adage of "old" does not relate to chronological age but to the amount of knowledge a man acquires by means of going through all of his ceremonies. Tingari women usually accompanied the novices to give them support and encouragement in undergoing their initiation ordeals, but they stayed some distance away from the ceremonial ground. On their travels important serpents crossed their paths at times and were incorporated into the song and dance cycles. At one point the women separated from the men and continued on their way in an easterly direction. At the places, which they visited, they taught their own dreamings and ceremonies to the women and these continue to be performed to the present day at these same sites. Walangkura depicts the area surrounding Papunga in which an old women, Kutungka travelled through. She visited these rock holes that are shown as small circles and crossed the sand dunes that are shown as lines that are depicted along the edge of the painting. Papunga is west of Mantai Outstation which is approx 70km west of Kintore, NT. The large circles represent hills and also body paint design. This painting is essentially a map of her country and sacred areas. |
Walangkura Napanangka Born: c1946 Region: Central Desert Community: Outstation: Tjturrulnga Language: Pintupi Social Affiliation: Subsection: Napangka Medium: Acrylic on canvas. Collections: Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Artbank. Gabrielle Pizzi Collection. Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory. The Kelton Foundation, USA. Exhibitions: Individual Exhibitions: 2004 - Walangkura Napanangka, Utopia Art Sydney. 2003 - Walangkura Napanangka: Recent Paintings, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne. Group Exhibitions: 2005 - Papunya Tula Artists, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria; Luminus: selected works from the Helen Read Collection, touring; Papunya Tula Artists - new work for a new space, Utopia Art Sydney. 2004 - Pintupi Art 2004, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, South Australia; Papunya Tula Artists - 2004, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria; All About Papunya, Chapman Gallery Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; The Inner And The Outer, Stadtgalerie Bamberg, Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany; Mythology and Reality - Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; 21st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, Northern Territory; EXPLAINED, A closer look at Aboriginal art, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Ma Yungu/Pass It On, Framed Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory; Melbourne Art Fair 2004, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne; Pintupi Artists, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Mythology & Reality, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Victoria. 2003 - Pintupi Art 2003, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, South Australia; Recent Paintings By The Women Artists Of Kintore And Kiwirrkura, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Aboriginal Art 2003, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Victoria; Pintupi Art From The Western Desert, Indigenart, Perth, Western Australia; Masterpieces From The Western Desert, Gavin Graham Gallery, London, United Kingdom; Papunya Tula Artists - A Gift From The Desert, Utopia Art Sydney, New South Wales; Pintupi Artists, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory. 2002 - Paintings From Our Country, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, South Australia; Aboriginal Art 2002, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne; William Mora Galleries, Melbourne; Pintupi Mens' and Womens' Stories, Indigenart, Perth; Art Born Of The Western Desert, Framed Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory; Saluting Papunya, Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Pintupi Artists, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Melbourne Art Fair 2002, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne. 2001 - Size Doesn't Matter - Papunya Tula Painting 1997-2001, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne; Art of the Pintupi, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, South Australia; Six Painters From Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney; Dreamscapes-Contemporary Desert Art, Mostings Hus, Frederiksberg, Denmark; Papunya Tula Aboriginal Art, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne; Papunya Tula 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT; Indigenart, Perth; The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Pintupi Exhibition, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Kintore and Kiwirrkura, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Museum, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney; 31st Alice Prize, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Flinders University Art Museum, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia. 2000 - Aboriginal Art, Aboriginal Art Galerie Bahr, Speyer, Germany; Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Framed Gallery, Darwin; Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Pintupi Women', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory. 1999 - Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney; Flinders University Art Museum, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia; 16th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; New Horizons 2000, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne. 1998 - The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; 15th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Art Of The Aborigines, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland; Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne. 1997 - Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; 14th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 1997, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Chapman Gallery, Manuka, Canberra. 1996 - Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, Alice Springs, Northern Territory; Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney; A/S Art Foundation, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Select Bibliography: Art Gallery of NSW Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2000. Isaacs, J., Spirit Country: Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, San Francisco, 1999. Mellor, D. and Megaw V., Twenty Five Years and Beyond, Papunya Tula Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Flinders Art Museum, Flinders Press, Adelaide, 1999. Bardon, Geoffrey; Ryan, Judith; Pizzi, Gabrielle; Stanhope, Zara., Mythology and Reality - Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2004. © Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Notes: Walangkura Napanangka was born in 1946 at Tjiturulnga, west of Alice Springs. She came to Haasts Bluff before finally residing in Kintore. In 1996 Walangkura commenced painting for Papunya Tula Artists. Now an accomplished, respected artist Walangkura unveils a masterpiece in every painting she completes.
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