Wati Wara - Lawrence Pennington Solo

A Collection of Fine Spinifex Indigenous Art

Wati Wara - Lawrence Pennington Solo

A Collection of Fine Spinifex Indigenous Art

Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by LAWRENCE PENNINGTON of Spinifex Artists. The title is Mituna. [15-223] (Acrylic on Linen) Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by LAWRENCE PENNINGTON of Spinifex Artists. The title is Mituna. [15-223] (Acrylic on Linen)
4/31

LAWRENCE PENNINGTON (dec)

Mituna
15-223
Acrylic on Linen
 Mituna | 15-223
Acrylic on Linen
 137 x 200cm | 53.94 x 78.74in
Find Out More

Lawrence Pennington is a senior Pitjantjatjara man from Mituna in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia in an area known as the Spinifex Lands.

Growing up as a young boy in this country and then following his initiations as a young man has given Lawrence intimate knowledge of the sites, the stories and the features of the Spinifex Lands. As a senior traditional owner of Mituna, he is allowed to speak for this place and has painted it here in this major work. The painting details other sites of significance in the vicinity of Mituna, including many small rockholes, which fill with water only after rain. Along the creek lines are trees kurku (mulga) and kurkara (desert oaks).

In significant painting such as this, much of the detail placed into the work is miil-miilpa (dangerously sacred) and cannot be elaborated. Lawrence will identify the major sites shown, leaving the knowledge about what is at, or passes through that site, known only to those who have the status to already know. At Mituna, several Tjukurpas are present including Wati Kutjara (the serpent men from Pukara) and Kalaya (Emu beings).

Tjukurpa is the Pitjantjatjara concept for describing the formative creation where ancestral beings create the world. These beings are Anangu ancestors, who can take the form of people, plants or animals. They traverse the country; forming the world we live in, creating the waterholes, the trees, the clay pans, the rocky outcrops, the sand hills and the Spinifex plains. These land formations are the physical manifestation of the creation energy and tangible evidence that this Tjukurpa is true.

Lawrence Pennington is a senior Pitjantjatjara man from Mituna in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia in an area known as the Spinifex Lands.

Growing up as a young boy in this country and then following his initiations as a young man has given Lawrence intimate knowledge of the sites, the stories and the features of the Spinifex Lands. As a senior traditional owner of Mituna, he is allowed to speak for this place and has painted it here in this major work. The painting details...