Ngara Ngara In The Great Sandy Desert, 1996

91 x 61 cm

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Hammer $8,000

Provenance: Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Balgo, Cat No. 367/96 Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Cat No. 9033 Private Collection, Albany NY
Artwork story: Ngara Ngara, is a site of ancestral and ceremonial significance in the Great Sandy Desert, where the artist’s Ngamara clan holds custodial responsibilities. The composition centres on a claypan with water running into it, surrounded by hills and ceremonial sites. In the dotted ground, concentric circles mark the presence of clan ancestors, their journeying paths, and sacred objects used in ceremony. The artist himself is represented sitting on the ground, singing and dancing with witti (feathers) and ceremonial adornments. Tommy Skeen Tjakamarra was a senior Law man and artist at Balgo Hills, part of the first generation to translate the oral narratives and ceremonial iconography of his country into acrylic on canvas. His works are vivid statements of cultural continuity, encoding stories that unite geography, kinship, and ritual practice.

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Sale 2 · Lot 45

Tommy Skeen Tjakamarra

c.1930 – 2001

91 x 61 cm

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Hammer $8,000

Provenance: Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Balgo, Cat No. 367/96 Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Cat No. 9033 Private Collection, Albany NY
Artwork story: Ngara Ngara, is a site of ancestral and ceremonial significance in the Great Sandy Desert, where the artist’s Ngamara clan holds custodial responsibilities. The composition centres on a claypan with water running into it, surrounded by hills and ceremonial sites. In the dotted ground, concentric circles mark the presence of clan ancestors, their journeying paths, and sacred objects used in ceremony. The artist himself is represented sitting on the ground, singing and dancing with witti (feathers) and ceremonial adornments. Tommy Skeen Tjakamarra was a senior Law man and artist at Balgo Hills, part of the first generation to translate the oral narratives and ceremonial iconography of his country into acrylic on canvas. His works are vivid statements of cultural continuity, encoding stories that unite geography, kinship, and ritual practice.