Tjunkiya Napaltjarri Australian Indigenous (Pintupi), 1927-2009

This painting depicts designs associated with the travels of a group of senior women from the rockhole site of Umari, situated in sandhill country, east of Mt. Webb in Western Australia.

The women later travelled east to pintari, nori-west of Kintore. While in the vicinity of Umari the women gathered the edible berries known as kampurarrpa (bush raisin) from the small shrub Solanum centrale. They can be eaten raw but are sometimes ground into a paste and cooked to form a type of damper. The numerous small circles in this work depict the berries collected. The concentric round shapes present the rockholes at Umari. The parallel lines represent the surrounding tali (sandhills).

Please note that all First Nations Art is created from a so called ‘Birds Eye’ view. This means that the paintings can be hung either horizontally as well as vertically.