Artist: Brandy Tjungurrayi | Title: Two Snake Dreaming | Year: 1995 | Medium: synthetic polymer paint on canvas | Dimensions: 120 x 91 cm
PROVENANCE
Papunya Tula Artists Cat No. BT950509
ARTWORK STORY
The black circle in this painting represents a rockhole at the site of Nyarri to the south of Well 33. In mythological times the Two Snake Dreaming travelled to this place. The snakes entered the rockhole and lived underground. The four black arcs depict boomerangs.
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Wirrimanu (Balgo) and Kiwirrkurra
LANGUAGE
Pintupi/ Kukatja
BIOGRAPHY
The Western Desert holds some of the most remote communities in Australia. As a boy, Brandy Tjungurrayi lived there, following the nomadic bush life of his Pintupi people. They moved across a vast stretch of arid country, replenishing themselves at a series of freshwater soaks and waterholes that had been revealed to their ancestors during the Dreamtime. The stories of these journeys and sacred waters form the main subject matter of Brandy’s paintings, the Tingari travelling cycle and the Emu Dreaming stories.
He was born south of Purtutjalpu, (Jupiter Wells) and his country of Nyila straddles the Great Sandy desert and Gibson desert. It was during these years that the Canning Stock Route was being developed for huge, outback cattle stations and by the 1950’s his people were forced to settle at Balgo mission. He and his wife worked on the mission and also had their five daughters there. Brandy earned his nickname because of his job of branding cattle. With his deep experience and knowledge of the land, Brandy was a knowledgeable Lawman, recognized as a senior custodian of traditional stories. He began to paint in Balgo in 1985.
In 1996, many of the Pintupi were moved to Kiwirrkurra, where Brandy began painting for Papunya Tula Arts. Many of his relatives had begun painting there and the meticulously crafted and disciplined palette of the Tingari paintings, were gaining monumental status on the walls of galleries around the country. Though he soon moved back to Balgo, painting for the then newly established Warlayirti Arts, he continued to live between the two communities because of his kinship ties.
Brandy’s paintings are elegant, linear compositions, composed of fine, continuous dotting, often overlapping to create lines that converge or travel onward. Although many are untitled, they reflect that strict observance of law, land and sacred waters that allowed his people to thrive for thousands of years in desert country. In his final years, Brandy became involved in a huge project to provide an indigenous history of the Canning Stock Route. He had lived through the whole, sometimes brutal, story. He rejoiced in the re-evaluation of his people’s history and the ongoing power of the Dreamtime narratives through art, with their deep and life-sustaining connection to country. The project resulted in the landmark touring exhibition, Yiwarra Kuju, (2010-2013) a collection of artworks, oral histories and interactive digital displays, now housed permanently at the Australian National Museum in Canberra.
© Adrian Newstead
REFERENCES
Warlayirti Arts, balgoart.com.au
PROVENANCE
Papunya Tula Artists Cat No. BT950509
ARTWORK STORY
The black circle in this painting represents a rockhole at the site of Nyarri to the south of Well 33. In mythological times the Two Snake Dreaming travelled to this place. The snakes entered the rockhole and lived underground. The four black arcs depict boomerangs.
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Wirrimanu (Balgo) and Kiwirrkurra
LANGUAGE
Pintupi/ Kukatja
BIOGRAPHY
The Western Desert holds some of the most remote communities in Australia. As a boy, Brandy Tjungurrayi lived there, following the nomadic bush life of his Pintupi people. They moved across a vast stretch of arid country, replenishing themselves at a series of freshwater soaks and waterholes that had been revealed to their ancestors during the Dreamtime. The stories of these journeys and sacred waters form the main subject matter of Brandy’s paintings, the Tingari travelling cycle and the Emu Dreaming stories.
He was born south of Purtutjalpu, (Jupiter Wells) and his country of Nyila straddles the Great Sandy desert and Gibson desert. It was during these years that the Canning Stock Route was being developed for huge, outback cattle stations and by the 1950’s his people were forced to settle at Balgo mission. He and his wife worked on the mission and also had their five daughters there. Brandy earned his nickname because of his job of branding cattle. With his deep experience and knowledge of the land, Brandy was a knowledgeable Lawman, recognized as a senior custodian of traditional stories. He began to paint in Balgo in 1985.
In 1996, many of the Pintupi were moved to Kiwirrkurra, where Brandy began painting for Papunya Tula Arts. Many of his relatives had begun painting there and the meticulously crafted and disciplined palette of the Tingari paintings, were gaining monumental status on the walls of galleries around the country. Though he soon moved back to Balgo, painting for the then newly established Warlayirti Arts, he continued to live between the two communities because of his kinship ties.
Brandy’s paintings are elegant, linear compositions, composed of fine, continuous dotting, often overlapping to create lines that converge or travel onward. Although many are untitled, they reflect that strict observance of law, land and sacred waters that allowed his people to thrive for thousands of years in desert country. In his final years, Brandy became involved in a huge project to provide an indigenous history of the Canning Stock Route. He had lived through the whole, sometimes brutal, story. He rejoiced in the re-evaluation of his people’s history and the ongoing power of the Dreamtime narratives through art, with their deep and life-sustaining connection to country. The project resulted in the landmark touring exhibition, Yiwarra Kuju, (2010-2013) a collection of artworks, oral histories and interactive digital displays, now housed permanently at the Australian National Museum in Canberra.
© Adrian Newstead
REFERENCES
Warlayirti Arts, balgoart.com.au