(Australia)
33.0 x 25.0cm platemark; 55.0 x 45.0cm sheet
In addition to showcasing the quality of Papunya Tula Artists as a whole, this suite of etchings emphasises the strength of each individual artist as they successfully translate their Tjukurrpa to the new medium of printmaking. Far from being a mere copy of their paintings in a different scale and medium each artists adapts their visual language to this new process with apparent ease, resulting in bold, confident works that are extraordinary in themselves, and when combined as a suite, are truly amazing.
The art centre documentation for this work states:
This etching depicts designs associated with the claypan and soakage water site of Tjanyinki, slightly north of the Nyirrpi Community. The rows of parallel lines represent the tali (sandhills) surrounding the site. A group of ancestral women camped at Tjanyinki performing the dances and singing the songs associated with the area. Upon completion of the ceremonies the women continued their travels towards the east. As the women travelled they gathered a variety of bush foods including kampurarrpa berries (desert raisin) from the small shrub Solanum chippendalei. Kampurarrpa berries can be eaten directly from the plant but are sometimes ground into a paste and cooked on the coals as a type of damper.