By this time the settlement of Papunya had been established for approximately thirty years. Papunya lies 200km west of Alice Springs. It was here that the Western Desert painting movement began in 1971 and was largely due to the efforts and enthusiasm of Geoffrey Bardon, the arts and crafts teacher at the school. His first observations of traditional designs were of the children making patterns in the sand which depicted animal tracks made by kangaroo, emus and dingo. To encourage interest in his classes the children were asked to make drawings of these patterns. This led to the painting of two large murals on the outside walls of the school. The murals were painted by a group of senior men and show the stories of the ‘Honey Ant Dreaming’ and the ‘Widow’s Dreaming’. The senior men befriended Bardon and expressed interest in producing more paintings. After class Bardon would provide art materials to the men who included Timmy Payungka Tjapangati, Anatjari Tjakamara, Charlie Tararu Tjungurrayi, and Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi, to name a few. Unbeknown to Bardon the ‘painting men’ were also painting on any material they could find, such as masonite board and floor tiles, and with any paint available. The works generated during this period are now highly collectable and valuable.
To pay for more art materials Bardon took completed paintings to sell in Alice Spings, and with the first consignment being sold, the Western Desert Art movement was born. The knowledge that their work could be sold encouraged more men to paint, which started the slow process of tribal men regaining some form of independence and self determination.
From working on recycled materials the artists soon progressed to painting on canvas on a larger scale. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s exhibitions were organized in Australia and overseas including, New York, Paris and London. Many of the National and State galleries in Australia acquired works for their collections, as well as international galleries and private collectors recognizing the importance of these artists and their work.
The main themes behind the paintings are to do with ‘country’ and how everything came into being. In mythological times the spiritual ancestors came to travel the earth, performing ceremonies on the way. These spirit beings are known as the ‘Tingari’ and the creation time is known as the ‘Tingari Cycle’. The Tingari created the features of the land, mountains, rivers, animals and plants. ‘The whole lot’ is how it was once told to me. The important sites are often depicted as circles linked by ‘traveling’ lines. The space between the sites is open country. Each part of the country and the sacred sites within it has a senior custodian, or Law Man or Law Woman. It is their responsibility to look after it and pass on the stories or dreaming (Tjukurrpa) associated with it in the form of song, ceremony, dance and now painting. An intimate knowledge of the land and its creation was essential to the survival of its people.
In the early 1980’s the Pintupi people made a push back to the west to be closer to their traditional country and the settlement of Kintore was established. This was to be followed by a further push west into Western Australia and the community of Kiwirrkurra was established in 1990. Kiwirrkurra is the most remote township in Australia approximately 1100 km’s from the nearest administrative centre.
Up until this point there were few or no regular female artists painting in their own right at Kintore or Kiwirrkurra. The wives of the male painters sometimes assisted on the infill or dotting work of the men’s paintings, but this was all. It was in 1993 that the women’s centre opened at the community of Haasts Bluff. A group of women from Kintore traveled to the opening ceremony to join family members to perform the songs and dances associated with the country. There then followed a series of painting workshops at Haasts Bluff, and later at Kintore, which the women participated in. This event became known as the ‘Minyma Tjukurrpa Project’ (Women’s Dreaming Project).
The women’s works showed a free flowing, spontaneous style. The paintings depicted distinctive landscapes of sand hill country, rocky outcrops, mountains, swamp land after rain and important reliable water sources. The gathering of bush tucker, hunting goannas and digging for Witchitty grubs is also a common and important theme. Other important subject matter is to do with ceremony. This includes body painting and the making of hair string belts and nose bones, worn during the ritual of song and dance which relates back to the creation time.
We find ourselves now, with the profile of Australian Aboriginal Art growing at a rate not seen before. The recent opening of the Musee du que Branly in Paris earlier this year marked another major step in the recognition and acceptance of this expression as a legitimate contemporary art movement. With more commercial galleries and auction houses promoting specialized Aboriginal art sales, the domestic and international market has recognized the importance of owning a piece of history. History that is documented by the very last of the first-contact tribal people from the oldest living culture in the world.
Kit Ballan
Ballan & Pannan Galleries
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