![Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by TJUNKAYA TAPAYA of Ernabella Artists. The title is Tjitjiku Tjukurpa. [188-12] (Acrylic on Canvas)](https://media.redotgallery.com/stockroom/gallery/t/tjitjiku-tjukurpa-2186.jpg)
TJUNKAYA TAPAYA
Tjitjiku Tjukurpa188-12
Acrylic on Canvas
Tjitjiku Tjukurpa | 188-12
Acrylic on Canvas
80 x 150cm | 31.5 x 59.06in
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This story is part of Kutungu’s story. Tjunkaya only paints her mother’s section of it - how Kutungu got married at Yirkiny, had her first two boys, Wantama and Palypatja, at Kartany, and then many more children along route to Umutju, Mantalpailyka and Marura. Kutungu is a woman about which many stories are told. This story is about a very long journey she and her tjitji tjuta (many children) took by foot.
On the way, Kutungu gathers vast amounts of bush foods, particularly kampurarpa (bush tomatoes), and is carrying them in her piti on her head. The children become very homesick on this journey, far from familiar places, and refuse to continue on. Kutungu again and again asks that they come with her, but eventually they sit down and won’t budge.
At Marura she leaves the bush foods with them and continues on alone, northward, filled with sadness. You can recognize the story in the paintings by looking at the two main places: the single soakage at Kanpininy where the girls turned into boulders, and the two rockholes at Ukata where the boys ended up. I first learnt about this tjukurpa through the bedtime stories that my mother used to tell. We were living in wiltja (traditional shelters) shifting around the mission compound, and were very keen to learn where we came from.
As an older child, my parents took us out to Kutungu’s places during school holidays; my father was hunting with spears. When I paint Tjitjiku Tjukurpa I remember this time and some funny things my mother told us: ’when you are itchy behind your ears the boys from Ukata are teasing you!’
On the way, Kutungu gathers vast amounts of bush foods,... Read More