Piltadi Wanampi Tjulkurpa - Water Serpent Dreaming, 2009

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

188 x 316 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: Ceduna Aboriginal Arts & Culture Centre, Ceduna, SA The Jacquie McPhee Collection
Literature / Illustrated: Cover Images and Illustrated in The Greatest Passion of All, The The Jacquie McPhee Collection
Artwork story: This is an important creation story for Aṉangu people from the APY Lands in north-west South Australia. It tells the story of two ancestral brothers who transform into wanampi (water snakes) to trick and swallow their wives. The oral tradition unfolds through a series of key events beginning with the Hunt during which wo sisters set out hunting for food, digging for small game in the ranges. Their husbands follow them. The husbands use magic, transforming into wanampi to lie in wait in the Piltati rockhole. Each time the women grab for what they think is game, the snakes disappear, tricking them all the way to Piltati. When the women reach the rockhole, the snake men reveal themselves, leap up, and swallow them whole. All four then become wanampi together at the site. This is a significant Dreaming as the wanampi ancestors hold great spiritual power as guardians of the waterholes who bring rain and life to the desert.

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b. 1958

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

188 x 316 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: Ceduna Aboriginal Arts & Culture Centre, Ceduna, SA The Jacquie McPhee Collection
Literature / Illustrated: Cover Images and Illustrated in The Greatest Passion of All, The The Jacquie McPhee Collection
Artwork story: This is an important creation story for Aṉangu people from the APY Lands in north-west South Australia. It tells the story of two ancestral brothers who transform into wanampi (water snakes) to trick and swallow their wives. The oral tradition unfolds through a series of key events beginning with the Hunt during which wo sisters set out hunting for food, digging for small game in the ranges. Their husbands follow them. The husbands use magic, transforming into wanampi to lie in wait in the Piltati rockhole. Each time the women grab for what they think is game, the snakes disappear, tricking them all the way to Piltati. When the women reach the rockhole, the snake men reveal themselves, leap up, and swallow them whole. All four then become wanampi together at the site. This is a significant Dreaming as the wanampi ancestors hold great spiritual power as guardians of the waterholes who bring rain and life to the desert.