Lot 4

The Artist
Papunya Tula Artists, Northern Territory, cat. no. WN0901021 (accompanied by a copy of the certificate of authenticity)
Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Northern Territory
The Le Pley Collection, Western Australia, acquired from the above in 2009

"This painting depicts designs associated with Kurriuntu, west of the Tjukula Community. The roundels are camp sites and the adjacent "U' shapes are women who have gathered at the site to perform the dances and sing the songs associated with the area. At this site the women spun hair-string with which to make nyimparra (hair string skirts) which are worn during these ceremonies. The women also gathered the edible berries known as kampurarrpa or desert raisin from the small shrub Solanum centrale. These berries are ground into a paste which is cooked in the coals to form a type of damper. The various shapes in the work represent the rocky outcrops near the site. As they travelled they gathered large quantities of the edible fruit known as pura, (also known in Pintupi as pintalypa) or bush tomato from the small shrub Solanum chippendalei. This fruit is the size of a small apricot, and after the seeds have been removed, can be stored for long periods by halving the fruit and skewering them onto a stick."
As stated on the Papunya Tula Artists certificate of authenticity 

© Walangkura Napanangka/Copyright Agency, 2023