George Tjungurrayi

Kirrimalunya

2019

This painting depicts the claypans of the water soakage area of Kirrimalunya on the Country of the artist’s father which is to the north of Kiwurrkura in Western Australia. There was water in this area and it was used by the Tingarri Men as they travelled through the area, headed to Kaakuratintja (Lake McDonald) where Tingarri rituals were held. In the Tjukurrpa, two ngangkari (traditional healers) camped at this site. They were only boys, but this healing power had been bestowed upon them by the time they were ten years old. The boys took something from their stomachs and wiped it on their arms. The lines in the painting are representative of the sand dunes and the color blocked area, water soakages.

When we paint, we don’t just paint trivial things. What we are painting are our family legacies. What belongs to us from our fathers, the country and our Dreaming story from our fathers. What belongs to us. We all do this. We all do this in the right way.

GEORGE TJUNGURRAYI

Language Group: Pintupi
Date: Born 1943

Born in the desert near Kiwirrkurra, George is the son of Natiki Kuli Tjapaltjarri and Witardia Nakamarra. George’s home site is Tjulyantjangka, and he paints Tingarri stories of this region in the classic Pintupi style of dotted grids and minimalistic lines. George travelled in from the desert, by way of Mt Doreen Station and Yuendumu. He travelled back west in 1962, acting as a guide for a Welfare Branch Patrol, finding his family who were still in the bush. His career as a painter began in West Camp Papunya in April 1976 and continued during the 1970s as he moved between Papunya, Yayayi, Waruwiya, and Mt Liebig. George settled in Kintore in the early 1980s, and his painting style changed, creating topographical lines in a minimalist style that became increasingly popular among contemporary art collectors. By the end of the 1990s, George Tjungurrayi was one of the most sought-after Papunya Tula painters, and his career as an artist is followed by his son Jack Tjapaltjarri, who began painting in 2004 under his father’s instruction. In 2018, his work was featured in the 21st Biennale of Sydney.

GEORGE TJUNGURRAYI, Kirrimalunya, 2019

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.

George Tjungurrayi.

George Tjungurrayi at the Walungurru (Kintore) studio, 1997.

Photo by Paul Sweeney.

George Tjungurrayi installation at Carriageworks for the 2018 Biennale of Sydney.

Courtesy of the Biennale of Sydney, Papunya Tula Artists and Utopia Art Sydney.

George Tjungarrayi. Produced by Desart for Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd.

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