Lot 57: TJUNKIYA NAPALTJARRI, (1927 – 2009), WOMEN'S CEREMONIES AT UMARI, 2007, synthetic polymer paint on linen

TJUNKIYA NAPALTJARRI, (1927 – 2009), WOMEN'S CEREMONIES AT UMARI, 2007, synthetic polymer paint on linen

SIGNED:
bears inscription verso: artist’s name, size and Papunya Tula Artists cat. TN0709169

DIMENSIONS:
121.5 x 121.5 cm

PROVENANCE:
Painted at Kintore in 2007
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
Harvey Art Projects, Ketchum, Idaho, USA
The Luczo Family Collection, USA

ESSAY:
This painting is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Papunya Tula Artiststhat states: ‘This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole site of Umari, situated in the sandhill country east of Winparku (Mt. Webb) in Western Australia. The various shapes in this painting depict the puli (rocky outcrops), tali (sandhills) and water sources of the area.

A group of ancestral women once gathered at this site to perform ceremonies associated with Umair. The women, one of the Nangala kinship subsection and the others of the Napaltjarri kinship subsection, later continued travelling toward the east.

One of the mythologies associated with the Umari area concerns a relationship between a man of the Tjakamarra kinship subsection and a woman of the Nangala kinship subsection. This is a mother-in-law relationship which is forbidden in Western Desert Aboriginal culture.’