TJULYATA
RAFT artspace and Papunya Tjupi Arts present
TJULYATA 5 - 27 October 2018 8 Hele Crescent Alice Springs NT 0870
TJULYATA
“Ngurra nyarrangkawarrilatju nyinapayi tin house-ngka. Yirriti tjana watjalpayi Tjulatanya. Etiminyku mita, my cousin, gave me that name - she ’s passed away, kuunyi. Ngayuku kanguru nyinapayi utjula and docker river-la. Too many Tjulyata!” “We all lived together there in the tin house. Everyone in my home used to call me Tjulyata. The wife of Etiminy, my cousin, gave me that name - she’s passed away, poor thing. My sisters from Areyonga and Docker River had the same name. Too many Tjulyata!”
Walukuritji, 23-17, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 71 cm
TJULYATA Martha McDonald Napaltjarri (born at Haasts Bluff c. 1940) is also known by close relatives as Tjulyata. She is the daughter of founding Papunya Tula artist Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi and his first wife. Shorty also married Martha’s maternal aunt Napulu Nangala after her first husband’s death and raised her six children (Linda, Wintjiya, Pamela, Brenda, Donald and Paul) as his own. As a young woman, Martha worked alongside linguists to create the Papunya Literature Production and Adult Education Program and in the Papunya preschool with her sister Linda Tjunkaya Syddick Napaltjarri. Martha is very proud of her language and is a skilled teacher, always offering to teach Pintupi-Luritja to Art Centre visitors. Martha had two sons and a daughter with her late husband, Snowy McDonald. She now resides a few kilometers outside Papunya in the idyllic surrounds of Blackwater outstation with her extended family, including grandson John Scott Rowe Tjakamarra, an emerging Papunya Tjupi artist.
Walukuritji, 298-17, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 46 cm
WALUKURITJI “This place is my fathers country, Warlukuritji, other side of Kintore. Wgayulu ngurrpakin, Kintore ngulparirra. Yirritiju wayi palyani ngayulu. aatjatiwarri nyarrangka, otherside of the church. Tjananya nyakupayi Nyuntu Kulini paapaku ngurra, Daddy. Kutjupawana palyani ngayuku paapaku.” “This place is my fathers country, Warlukuritji, other side of Kintore. I don’t know where, South of Kintore I am watching my father paint, his way, in the old way. They are doing painting before, outside, otherside of the church. We used to see them. You listen - this is father’s country, Daddy. But I paint differently to my father.”
Walukuritji, 664-17, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 cm
WALUKURITJI Martha depicts Walukuritji in her works. It is one of a series of clay pans to the south of Lake MacDonald that were significant for her father, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi. The surrounding dot matrix depicts the tapestry of different types of vegetation across the landscape. Martha has been painting for a long time. She witnessed the beginnings of the Papunya Art Movement in the early 1970s, when her father created authoritative works that would go on to be internationally celebrated. While Martha paints his country, she does so in her own way, and only in relation to the stories that she knows about it. Martha is an important elder in Papunya community and a Director at the Art Centre. With Tjulyata, Martha is proud to present her latest body of work, created over the past two years. It is her second solo exhibition presented by RAFT artspace in conjunction with Papunya Tjupi Arts.
Walukuritji, 180-18, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 152 x 122 cm
Walukuritji, 571-17, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 91 x 51 cm
Walukuritji, 284-18, 2018, acrylic on linen, 152 x 122 cm
“These are ngati (holes) and a little bit of kapi (water) in the waterholes, still ngati. And watiya (trees). Watiya, one, two, three, four. Watiya.�
Walukuritji, 138-17, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 cm
Walukuritji, 285-18, 2018, acrylic on linen, 152 x 122 cm
Walukuritji, 595-17, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 71 cm
Walukuritji, 286-18, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 cm
Walukuritji, 383-18, 2018, acrylic on linen, 122 x 91 cm
Walukuritji, 361-18, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 cm