Untitled, 2014, Willy Tjungurrayi
Acrylic on Belgian linen, 61cm x 50cm
Provenance: Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin.
Western Desert artist, Willy Tjungurrayi is a senior Pintupi man, allowed by his ancestry and leadership to paint the sacred and secret Tingari cycle. His two main themes are stories from the Tingari Dreaming song cycle, and the land around Haast's Bluff, Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay) and Kaakuratintja (Lake MacDonald). More recently, Tjungarrayi's paintings feature hundreds of endless wavy lines in an ochre monochrome shimmer across the canvas on a pale background. These paintings illustrate (or witness, might be more correct) the sand hills and the fierce hailstorm that killed the ancestral Tingari Men in the Dreamtime (1).
From the authenticity certificate: This painting depicts designs associated with the soakage water site of Warrapurnya, near Lake MacDonald. In mythical times a group of Tingari Men and Tingari Women travelled to this site to dig for the soakage water. Since events associated with the Tingari Cycle are of a secret nature no further detail was given. Generally, the Tingari are a group of mythical characters of the Dreaming who travelled over vast stretches of the country, performing rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari Men were usually followed by Tingari Women and accompanied by novices and their travels and adventures are enshrined in a number of song cycles. These mythologies form part of the teachings of the post initiatory youths today as well as providing explanations for contemporary customs.