Angus Tjungurrayi
Angus Tjungurrayi
BORN
1988, Alice Spring, NT
COUNTRY
PINTUPI
COMMUNITY
KIWIRRKURA, WA
LANGUAGE
PINTUPI
About
Angus Tjungurrayi is the son of internationally-renowned Papunya Tula artists Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri and Yalti Napangati, both members of the Pintupi Nine – the last remaining group of traditional hunter-gatherers who first encountered settler Australians in 1984. Angus lives and works in Kiwirrkura community, one of the most remote communities in the world situated deep in the Western Desert.
Angus heralds from a strong linegae of artists. He regularly paints his custodial sites and associated Tjukurrpa (Dreaming Stories) including Wilkinkarra (Lake Mckay) and the secret-sacred Tingari song-cycle. Angus learnt to paint watching his father, and utilises the optical techniques Warlimpirrnga is famous for – ‘flashes’ that encode and reveal esoteric meaning. Unlike his father, Angus’ works are often hard, angular, geometric compositions with Western characters of personal meaning embedded, merging traditional and contemporary Pintupi life.
WORK
This painting depicts designs associated with a swamp site south of Marawa, slightly west of Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). During ancestral times a large group of Tingari men travelled to Marawa from the west, and after arriving at the site, passed beneath the earth’s surface and continued travelling underground. It is also said that a huge ancestral snake sleeps in this swamp. Since events associated with the Tingari Cycle are of a secret nature no further detail was given.
Generally, the Tingari are a group of ancestral beings 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 were accompanied by novices, and their travels and adventures are enshrined in a number of song cycles. These ancestral stories form part of the teachings of the post initiatory youths today as well as providing explanations for contemporary customs.
PHOTO CREDIT: BRENDAN KING, COURTESY OF PAPUNYA TULA ARTISTS
