The Papunya painting movement was driven by the artist’s desire to express who they were against the onslaught of displacement and the colonial suppression of Aboriginal culture. In painting their sacred sites and ancestral narratives, artists sought to show their true identities. In this work, Jack Long Phillipus depicts Ngamurunya, where his spirit was conceived in his mother’s womb. This place is associated with Watuya, the Possum Ancestor, who is represented in his human form as a U shape, seated alone with a large oblong boomerang on the left. By representing Watuya alone rather than with other ancestors, Phillipus draws an intimate connection between himself and Watuya, making this painting like a self-portrait.

He was a really good painter. He used to do painting among all the old people at the Town Hall. When they split up, he would paint at home with the family. That’s how we learned: by sitting down, watching his hand, doing the painting. Good memories of my father looking at the paintings and thinking about them. The ideas were really strong, strong like everyone else. Every Anangu (Aboriginal person) then was really strong.