Debra Nakamarra

Tjintjintjin

2020

Tjintjintjin is a place known for both a rockhole and a cave, just west of the community of Walungurru (Kintore). It is associated with an ancestral woman named Kutungu, who passed through this area on her travels. Here, she knew there was an ancestral snake that lived underground. She dug for it and eventually found and killed it. After cooking and eating it, she also gathered edible berries called kampurarrpa (desert raisins), represented in this painting by the small circles. The lines and roundels represent other geographical features in the area.

Language Group: Pintupi
Date: Born 1964

Debra Nakamarra was born in 1964 and is the eldest daughter of Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula and Walangkura Napanangka. She has three brothers and two sisters, including Papunya Tula artist Katherine Nakamarra. Debra is married to the watercolorist Hilary Wirri. Debra’s paintings center around the rockhole and cave site of Tjintjintjin, located on the western side of the Northern Territory and Western Australia border, and roughly halfway between the Kintore and Kiwirrkura communities.

Biographical information courtesy of Papunya Tula Artists.

DEBRA NAKAMARRA, Tjintjintjin, 2020

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. 24 × 21 5/8 in. (61 × 55 cm) Commissioned by Richard Klingler and Jane Slatter for Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu | Past and Present Together.

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