YALA YALA GIBBS TJUNGURRAYI

Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi was born c.1925 and walked with his family from his homelands west of Lake McDonald into Papunya in the early years of the settlement. He became one of the six artists who received a government allowance to paint full time in the very first years of the painting movement. Geoff Bardon remembered him as a solemn man who spoke little, but who gave himself wholeheartedly to his work, quickly developing fine technical craftsmanship and a particular style characterized by a strong linear quality. Bardon had the difficult job of choosing the core group of artists from the enthusiastic crowd that regularly gathered at his small flat to experiment with the art materials he provided. During this time, Yala Yala’s distinctive line drawings helped to point Bardon towards some comprehension of the ‘hieroglyphic-like language’ that underscored the Dreaming stories. Bardon was fascinated by the weaving relationship between circular forms and travelling lines. Between the principles of stillness and movement, he realized, an entire worldview could be articulated. The circle was the completed line of the travelling principle, curled up in a campsite, yet also was the origin of the travelling line, ongoing in its many modes and modifications. (Carter, 2000, 254) Travelling itself was an expression of life, a response to the seasons and the need to find food but also intrinsic to the people’s understanding and mythology of the earth.

The interaction and collaboration between the artists at Papunya was intense and provided impetus to the increasing momentum of the Western Desert art movement. However, it was not without its moments of contention. There was disagreement between groups as to what sacred objects and designs could be included. In 1975, forty-four paintings out of forty-six, in a Perth exhibition, were turned to the wall in response to the demands of a visiting group of Pitjantjatjara men. They were deeply disturbed by overt references to their secret beliefs and ceremonies. Papunya Tula painters were forced to pay compensation and a process of abstraction and stylisation ensued. (Myers, 2002,65) Sacred elements were veiled and Pintupi painting in particular, took on a strong design focus. With his natural talent for conceiving uncomplicated yet arresting arrangements, Yala Yala’s paintings were at the forefront of the this classic Tingari period. His mind-maps of his vast, desert homeland emanate a simple grandeur. Loops, spirals and roundels are linked by travelling lines and held in unity with (often diffuse) background dotting. A restricted range of ochre colours conveys his sense of tethering to the earth, which was also reflected in his working manner. With the other Pintupi artists, he would often sing traditional chants while painting and always use a sense of touch through hands and fingers, to bring the work into being.

In 1981, Yala Yala’s work was included in an exhibition of large acrylic canvasses shown at the Art Gallery of NSW. It was the mark of acceptance of the contemporary aboriginal art style by the Australian art establishment. This was due in part to the then art manager at Papunya, David Crocker. He promoted the paintings as a form of contemporary art rather than as previously considered, ethnographic artefacts that belong in a museum. (Myers, 2002194) Crocker did much to set the whole enterprise on a sounder business footing and growing attention from all over the world, focused on the artists. They responded with growing confidence in their own signature styles. In accord with market demand, Papunya artists broadened their experimentation with abstraction and painterliness, loosening the restrictive rules and patterning that had helped to consolidate the earlier phase. To some degree however, Yala Yala’s work remained unchanged. His son, a spirited young man who was often away, would write to his father in the English that he was being taught at school and Geoff Bardon would read Yala Yala the warm and reassuring letter. But even this would not raise a smile, Bardon recalled. (Bardon, 2004,73) The outer circumstances of Yala Yala’s life had caused him to withdraw in some ways yet inwardly his spirit continued to burn brightly through his art and ceremonial obligations. Yala Yala moved to Kintore and set up his own outstation at Muntardi, close to his traditional lands. He was a senior custodian of Pintupi sacred sites and knowledge, and painted devotedly until his death in 1998.


© Adrian Newstead

References

Bardon, Geoffrey and James, Papunya; A Place Made After the Story, The Beginning of the Western Desert Painting Movement, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, Australia, 2004.

Carter, Paul, “The Enigma of a Homeland Place, Mobilising the Papunya Tula painting movement 1971-1972 in Papunya Tula, Genesis and Genius, edited by Hetti Perkins and Hannah Fink, Art Gallery of NSW, 2000.

Myers, Fred, Painting Culture, The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2002.