Papunya

The Papunya Tula artists Company Pty Ltd began in 1972 as an Aboriginal-owned and managed organisation. Established to run the business of the Anmatyerre, Arrernte, Luritja, Pintupi and Warlpiri artists, today it is recognised as one of Australia’s most successful art collectives to emerge from the 20th century. Papunya is located 260km northwest of Alice Springs and was established by the Australian Government under an assimilation policy in the 1960s as a settlement of several western desert language groups.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Anmatyerre people, Northern Territory, born Napperby Station, Northern Territory c.1934, died Alice Springs, Northern Territory 21 June 2002, Honey Ant Ceremony, 1972, Papunya, Northern Territory, synthetic polymer paint on board, 104.0 x 81.4 cm; Elder Wing Centenary Gift of The Foundation 2001, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Estate of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri/Aboriginal Artists Agency.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1934 – 2002) was born in a creek bed at Napperby Station, in Anmatyerre country, about two hundred kilometres northwest of Alice Springs. From a young age he was a stockman at numerous cattle stations and in the late 1950s was recruited to help build the Papunya settlement, where he met and married Emily Nantakutara Nakamarra.

In the late 1960s Clifford Possum was already a noted woodcarver and had experimented with paintings based on traditional symbols. Honey Ant Ceremony is one of the first works made by Clifford Possum at Papunya. The painting depicts men’s and women’s ceremonies for the Honey Ant site of Yinyalingi in the artist’s ancestral country near Mt Allan.

Honey Ant Ceremony is considered an early Western Desert masterpiece. Unlike his later vast canvases with their signature dotted nebulae to mask secret-sacred content, this board more explicitly depicts ceremonial matters. The three concentric circles represent underground Honey Ant nests at Yinyalingi, which were excavated by an ancestral woman, surrounded by figurative images of digging sticks, ritual boards and other items.

Text by Barry Patton, Tarnanthi Writer & Researcher

Daisy Leura Nakamarra, Anmatyerre people, Northern Territory, born Umbungurru Creek, Northern Territory c.1938, Women Dreaming, 1982, Papunya, Northern Territory, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 59.0 cm (diam.); Lisette Kohlhagen Bequest Fund 1982, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Daisy Leura Nakamarra/Aboriginal Artists Agency.

In the early days at Papunya painting was reserved largely for men. However, in the 1980s women too began to paint their stories. Daisy Leura Nakamarra was born circa 1936 and moved to the Papunya settlement with her husband Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri and their six children. Her husband was Clifford Possum’s brother and one of the first painters of the movement at Papunya. Daisy Leura was one of the first female artists to receive recognition. She is a senior law woman of her community and feels responsible for protecting traditional stories.

In 1982, Women Dreaming became the first Western Desert painting by a woman artist to be acquired by an art museum. The distinctive circular work had been painted earlier that year by Anmatyerre artist Daisy Leura Nakamarra. It depicts the important site of Illpilli, 150 kilometres west of Papunya, where a group of women once camped in search of edible berries and witchetty grubs. Dots and lines in ochre, yellow and brown tones fill Nakamarra’s geometrical work. Depicted as crescent forms are the seated women who tilled the earth with digging sticks, which Nakamarra renders as straight lines. Centred among the women are their oval-shaped bowls and surrounding them are the footsteps showing their journey across the varying terrains of red sandhills and yellow spinifex grasses.

As a senior law woman, Nakamarra was a custodian of profound cultural knowledge, although a personal edict guided her to paint only secular women’s themes and important food sources. She was one of the first women to paint officially at Papunya Tula Artists and was instrumental in paving the way for the large number of women who began painting in the mid-1990s.

Gloria Strzelecki, Associate Curator of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art

Responding
  • What shapes or images and objects can you identify in Honey Ant Ceremony? What do these shapes remind you of?
  • Why is story telling important? Brainstorm different ways that we communicate stories to others.
  • Aboriginal artists sometimes paint as a means of teaching their stories to younger generations. What are some things you have learnt from your grandparents or parents?
  • Locate Papunya on a map. What are the main features of this region?
  • After reading about the Honey Ant Ceremony consider why this story is significant for the artist and the community. Find recent works of art that depict this story.
  • Investigate the behaviour and ecology of a honey ant. How do they get their honey and how does this differ to the way bees produce honey? Why do you think they may be special to Aboriginal people? Paintings by Aboriginal women often depict stories about native bush tucker. Since European settlement over 100 plant and animal species are either now extinct or close to extinction. Select another flora or fauna endemic to Australia. What role does your selected species play in Australia’s biodiversity? Identify potential threats to its continued survival.
  • Considering the basic human needs of food, water and shelter, how might people survive in the Central Desert region? What plants and animals would be able to be used for food in this region?
  • With a partner discuss the different techniques and processes used by the Papunya artists whose works of art are on display.
Research
  • Research the Papunya Tula painting movement and its impact on the Australian and international art scenes.
  • Investigate the evolution of paintings from Papunya. Identify key characteristics of works of art created in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and today. How has the style of painting changed and what reasons can you suggest for these shifts?
  • Writer Ian McLean has stated “the Aboriginal people’s [Papunya artists] enthusiasm for painting empowered them as modern individuals while simultaneously empowering their traditions and religion”. Use examples by Papunya artists to support McLean’s statement.
  • Papunya is recognised as one of Australia’s most successful art collectives to emerge from the 20th century. When discussing men’s painting at Papunya, writer and curator John Kean has stated ‘Intended as a “half-way house” between “nomadism” and “civilised settlement” Papunya proved to be a meeting place for Indigenous ideas and culture’. Discuss how this movement aided cultural sustainability. Compare Papunya to another moment in Australian art history where artists have joined together to form a movement.
  • Up until the 1960’s the Australian Government implemented assimilation policies, which had devastating effects on Aboriginal communities. These policies aimed to assimilate Aboriginal people. Research what these assimilation policies involved. Compare these policies to those implemented in other nations such as New Zealand, the United States of America and Germany throughout history. What is the difference between assimilation and multiculturalism? Discuss why assimilation is problematic.
Making
  • Draw what you think a honey ant might look like. Now draw an insect that you know well and create a design inspired by this insect.
  • Think about the place where you live. Create a painting depicting your favourite thing about this place.
  • Look carefully at the variety of dotting techniques used by the Papunya artists and consider how the artists have made these marks. Experiment with a variety of materials to create a unique tool that makes a repeated pattern.
  • The early artists from Papunya painted their stories onto salvaged surfaces such as linoleum tiles and interior wall panels with an assortment of paints. Think of a story that is important to you, your family, school or community. Collect recycled surfaces such as cereal boxes, old canvases, frames or fabric. Create a painting that represents this story using your own symbols and choice of colour palette.
  • Early Papunya artists sometimes used house paint, poster paint, acrylic paint or ochre. Experiment with different types of paints available to you. Create a series of samples with annotations documenting your experience with working with different materials. Which was the most transparent or opaque? Which paint was the most vivid? Which was your favourite to work with and why?
  • In small groups create a collaborative painting that explores the environment of each student in the group. How will you create a cohesive image that tells everyone’s story?
  • Create a painting or drawing representing a story that is special to you. Experiment with different ways to represent your story.
  • Imagine you have been asked to write an introduction to a new publication based on the new displays of Australian art at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Introduce the reader to the new displays by addressing each key theme.
  • Many artists use art as a means of recording their stories and understanding historical events that have shaped their lives. Think of a historical event that has shaped your life. Create a painting that documents this event or explains why this event occurred.