Lot 57

Papunya Tula Artists, Northern Territory (accompanied by the certificate of authenticity)
Private collection, Melbourne

"This painting depicts designs associated with the lake site of Tjukurla, near where the community now stands in Western Australia. The roundels in this work represent the rockholes at this site. The lines depict the surrounding sandhills and the arc shapes represent the surrounding puli (rocky outcrops). During mythological times a group of ancestral women gathered at this site to perform the dances and sing the songs associated with the area. While at Tjukuria the women spun hair-string with which to make nyimparm (hair-string skirts) which are worn during ceremonies. The women also 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. Upon completion of the ceremonies the women continued their travels north toward the rockhole site of Illpilli and then onto a site near Nyirrpi."

As stated on the Papunya Tula Artists certificate of authenticity

© Walangkura Napanangka/Copyright Agency, 2026