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Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art

Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi, Untitled 1972
Synthetic polymer paint on composition board 74.0x41.2cm
Gift of Mrs Douglas Carnegie OAM, 1989
© artists and their estates 2011,
licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and
Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd

events|tjukurrtjanu%20origins%20of%20western%20desert%20art

The exploration of an extraordinary instant in art.

Editorial

When: 30 September, 2011 - 12 February, 2012
Where: The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square
Cost: Free

Winter in the desert saw a prodigious talent bloom. In July of 1971, a group of Papunya Tula artists were inspired to take designs of tjukurrtjanu (from the dreaming) to a durable medium.

These work of men’s ritual were generally inscribed in sand and other ephemeral media. But, in 1971 and 1972, the ongoing and evolving visual traditions of the Western Desert were laced on composition board.

The result of this prolific moment can currently be seen at Fed Square. Along with the arresting paintings, see a range of implements, photographs and body ornamentation to afford the works a better context.

Helen Razer, Citysearch