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This website was developed for the exhibition Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu | Past & Present Together: Fifty Years of Papunya Tula Artists that was on view at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia from 2021-23 and the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC in 2024. It was made possible by our creative partnership with Papunya Tula Artists and the generous support of UVA Arts Council. Site design by Urban Fugitive for V21 Artspace.
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Eileen Napaltjarri

Tjitururrnga
2020

Tjitururrnga is a place in the rocky hills west of the community of Kintore, and is known for having both a rockhole and a soakage. In the Tjukurrpa, a group of men and women traveled east from this place to another rockhole nearby. Along the way they gathered materials to make various tools used in everyday life, such as kulata (spears), wana (hardwood hunting clubs), kiritji (shields) and kali (boomerangs). While here, the group also gathered a variety of desert foods, including pitjara (desert yams), pura (bush tomatos) and kampurarrpa (desert raisins).

Eileen zooms in to provide a macro view that seems to extend beyond the edges of the canvas. The vibrancy of color and luminous use of white is reminiscent of her mother’s works, while the subject depicted is her father’s conception site. Located to the west of Walungurru, Tjitururrnga is a soakage water site that sits within rocky hills, known for a profusion of jitjara (desert yam from ipomoea costata). Men and women traveled to this site in the distant past, and subsequent generations have followed in their footsteps. Eileen’s reverberating lines capture the life-sustaining nature of this location as a burst of energy that vibrates across Country.

CARA PINCHBECK

Language Group: Pintupi
Date: Born 1956

Eileen Napaltjarri was born at Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff) in December 1956. Her father Charlie Wartuma Tjungurrayi was one of the founding members of Papunya Tula Artists, and her mother Tatali Nangala was also a very successful artist with the company. Eileen grew up in Ikuntji and later moved to Walungurru (Kintore) with her family when it was first established. Eileen completed her first painting in 1996, but did not paint regularly until 1999. The main site Eileen depicts in her painting is Tjitururrnga, which is slightly west of Kintore and the birthplace of her father. Her work is held in numerous important public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio and the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.

Biographical information courtesy of Papunya Tula Artists.

Are you related to this artist? Are you a scholar of artwork from the Papunya Tula movement? Please contact us at kluge-ruhe@virginia.edu if you would like to add something to this page or see something that is missing or incorrect.
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