Tingari Cycle (Spirit Beings)
Walala Tjapaltjarri (b. ~ 1960)

Tingari (Spirit Beings)
Artist: Walala Tjapaltjarri (b. ~ 1960)

Region: Kiwirrkuru, West of Lake Mackay, Australia
Language Group: Tingari
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Date: 2008

Dimensions: 160 cm (63”) x 94 cm (37”)

The Tingari were ancestral spirit beings, who went on very long journeys, creating much of the desert landscape in Central Australia, and instructing the people about law and custom.  During the Tjukurrpa (Creation Era) Tingari ancestors beings gathered at a series of sites for Malliera (Initiation) Ceremonies. They traveled vast stretches of the country, performing rituals at specific sites that in turn created the diverse natural features of the environment. The Tingari men were accompanied by novices and usually followed by Tingari Women. The creation stories and rituals are venerated in the song cycles and ceremonies of today, forming part of the teachings of the post-initiatory youths, whilst also providing explanations for contemporary customs.

Walala Tjapaltjarri uses a highly personalized and minimal style to represent aspects of the sacred Tingari Cycle, an epic journey of Ancestors of the TJukurrpa (Creation Era). He paints aspects of the Tingari Cycle which are associated with the artist's many sacred sites - such as Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu, to name a few. These are locations of significant rockholes, sandhills, sacred mountains and water soakages in the Gibson Desert.

Originally painting in classical Tingari style usually reserved for body painting, ground painting, and the decoration of traditional artifacts, within a couple of months of painting Walala evolved his own innovative style of work. He began abstracting the classical Pintupi designs, creating a highly graphic language to speak of his country and ceremonial sites. The rectangles so prominent in his paintings, such as this example, form both a physical and spiritual map establishing Walala as a discerning draughtsman for his ancient country.

Biography

In was in late 1984, Walala and several other members of the Pintupi Tribe walked out of the remote wilderness of the Gibson Desert in Western Australia and made contact for the first time with European society. Described as 'The Lost Tribe', he and his family created international headlines. Until that day in 1984, Walala and his family lived the traditional and nomadic life of a hunter-gatherer society. Their intimate knowledge of the land, its flora and fauna, and waterholes allowed them to survive, as their ancestors had for thousands of years.

It is this sacred landscape with its significant sites that Walala so strikingly describes in his paintings. His style is strongly gestural and boldly graphic, one that is generally highlighted by a series of rectangles set against a monochrome background. He paints the Tingari Cycle (a series of sacred and secret mythological song cycles) which are associated with the artist's many dreaming sites - they are Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami, and Yarrawangu, to name a few. These Dreamings are the locations of significant rock holes, sandhills, sacred mountains, and water soakages in the Gibson Desert.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2019 Walala Tjapaltjarri Self-portrait, Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland
2001 Tingari Cycle - Walala Tjapaltjarri, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
1999 Tingari Cycle - Walala Tjapaltjarri, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
1998 Tingari - Men's Business, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
1998 Walala Tjapaltjarri Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
1998 Tingari Cycle - Walala Tjapaltjarri, Fire-Works Gallery, Brisbane

 

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2023 Central Desert Showcase, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2022 Desert Colours 2022, Honey Ant Gallery, Incinerator Art Space, Willoughby/Sydney
2021 50 Years of Papunya Tula Artists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2020 Central Focus, Art Mob, Hobart
2019 An Exhibition on TJAPALTJARRI Brothers from the Indigenous Lost Tribe, Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery, Melbourne
2019 Defining Tradition | the colourists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 Warlimpirrnga, Walala and Thomas Tjaplajarri Exhibitions, Mitchell Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane
2019 Defining Tradition: the first wave & its disciples, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 Sculpture Projects, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
2019 Pintupi Artists of the Western Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2018 Three Brothers, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2010 Lost Tribe, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2000-01 The Art of Place Exhibition, Australian Heritage Commission, National Tour
2000 Walala Tjapaltjarri and Dr George Tjapaltjarri, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney
2000 Songlines: Walala Tjapaltjarri & Dorothy Napangardi , Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2000 My Country - Journeys of our Ancestors, Ancient Earth Indigenous Art, Cairns
2000 Lines, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
2000 Landmarks Exhibition, Dar Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
2000 Fifth National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra
2000 Melbourne ArtFair 2000, Melbourne
1999 Tingari Cycle, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
1999 Spirit Country, The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, U.S.A.
1999 Recent Works by Walala Tjapaltjarri and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1999 My Dreaming, Redrock Gallery, Melbourne
1999 Painting the Desert Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the French Embassy, Canberra
1998 Tingari - My Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
Awards and Recognition
2000 17th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist
1999 16th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist
1998 15th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist
1997 14th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist

Collections

AMP Investments Australia, Sydney
Gantner Myer Aboriginal Art Collection CNC International Corporation, Sydney
Axiom Funds Management, Sydney
Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Perth
El Paso Energy International Co, Houston, Texas
Epic Energy Australia, Brisbane
Flinders University, Adelaide
Hastings Funds Management, Melbourne
Kaplan & Levi Collection, Seattle
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
The Kelton Collection, Santa Monica, USA
Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne
Corrigan Collection, Sydney
Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice
Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Motiers, Switzerland
Artbank, Sydney