Tingari, 1981

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

71 x 114.5 cm

$5,500

Secure payment via Stripe. Prices in AUD.

Provenance: Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT, Cat No. GY810921 Private Collection NSW
Artwork story: George Yapa Tjangala (born c. 1945, Witingu, Western Australia) is a senior Pintupi artist associated with the Western Desert art movement. He was born in country between Jupiter Well and present-day Kiwirrkura and spent his early life living traditionally with his family before moving to Papunya in the mid-1960s following contact with government patrols. At Papunya, he worked alongside established artists including Uta Uta Tjangala and Charlie Tarawa Tjungurrayi, and later joined Papunya Tula Artists, through which he developed his own practice during the 1970s. His paintings draw upon ancestral narratives connected to his homelands around Kiwirrkura and Kirrpinga, often referencing Tingari and Eagle Hawk Dreaming stories. The present work takes its inspiration from designs used during Tingari ceremonies at Watanuma, southeast of Jupiter Well. Tingari, a term that refers to the higher ceremonial instruction given to initiated men, transmits sacred knowledge through complex song cycles supported by corresponding visual symbols. These motifs operate as mnemonic devices—recognisable to outsiders yet layered with meanings known only to the initiated. In this painting, concentric roundels mark the rockholes and ceremonial participants, while a sinuous line traces the path of a snake spirit whose movement formed a creek bed. The surrounding field of dots evokes the texture of stone and desert earth, grounding the ancestral narrative within the living surface of country.

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George Yappa Tjungala

c.1945 – 1989

Region: Western Desert
Language group: Pintupi

Tingari, 1981

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

71 x 114.5 cm

$5,500

Secure payment via Stripe. Prices in AUD.

Provenance: Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT, Cat No. GY810921 Private Collection NSW
Artwork story: George Yapa Tjangala (born c. 1945, Witingu, Western Australia) is a senior Pintupi artist associated with the Western Desert art movement. He was born in country between Jupiter Well and present-day Kiwirrkura and spent his early life living traditionally with his family before moving to Papunya in the mid-1960s following contact with government patrols. At Papunya, he worked alongside established artists including Uta Uta Tjangala and Charlie Tarawa Tjungurrayi, and later joined Papunya Tula Artists, through which he developed his own practice during the 1970s. His paintings draw upon ancestral narratives connected to his homelands around Kiwirrkura and Kirrpinga, often referencing Tingari and Eagle Hawk Dreaming stories. The present work takes its inspiration from designs used during Tingari ceremonies at Watanuma, southeast of Jupiter Well. Tingari, a term that refers to the higher ceremonial instruction given to initiated men, transmits sacred knowledge through complex song cycles supported by corresponding visual symbols. These motifs operate as mnemonic devices—recognisable to outsiders yet layered with meanings known only to the initiated. In this painting, concentric roundels mark the rockholes and ceremonial participants, while a sinuous line traces the path of a snake spirit whose movement formed a creek bed. The surrounding field of dots evokes the texture of stone and desert earth, grounding the ancestral narrative within the living surface of country.