Charlie Tawara Tjungurrayi

In 1984, when asked about Walungurru (the locale now known as Kintore), Charlie Tarawa (Watuma) told me about three sets of ancestral heroes who inhabited the area. Of particular relevance is wanampi, a dangerous water serpent believed to dwell in a waterhole, on the southern flank of the imposing wedge-shaped mountain that reared above us as we spoke. Watuma, who was a senior custodian for Walungurru, lowered his voice to warn me against arousing the serpent’s wrath.

If you walk in the hills around Walungurru you will have to take care. A wanampi lives there. You can tell where he lives as there will be a small cloud hanging over his home. That wanampi gives power to the hills. It is his place and he must be respected for that power. Men who know that country can approach his home but women and children must be aware. That wanampi is always alert. He lies curled around a big tree next to his waterhole, looking out for intruders.

Emphasising the danger Watuma continued, ‘He can bite, he can hit. If you go close, he’ll give you once and you’ll be finished!’[1]

It is likely that the current ‘untitled’ painting evokes the water serpent at Walungurru. The painting bears a strong resemblance to one of the artist’s earliest paintings, described by Geoffrey Bardon as a ‘Snake Dreaming’ (July-August, 1971). Bardon wrote that the painting ‘depicts convincing and valid images for a snake movements in grass. Charlie Tarawa’s sinuous and quite mesmerising configuration enacts the idea of movement and justifies that movement’s interaction with the square pictorial space used. This work [version 1] was painted on my verandah with my own paint.’[2]

Watuma returned to the wanampi theme on several occasions. There were for instance two versions, both titled ‘Walungurru’, included in his eponymous 1987 retrospective.[3] In contrast to these later realistic interpretations, 1971 versions infer the presence of the serpent via a depiction of its tracks, sinuous shapes that wind through the composition. Ribs, that drive the serpent’s movement, are indicated by the adjacent sets of parallel bars. As Bardon noted of the earliest version painted on his veranda, the design occupies the pictorial space with conviction, pushing at the rectangular edges, as if to gain purchase.

The presentation of this work is of particular interest, as all paintings offered at Pat Hogan’s Stuart Art Centre were framed in this distinctive 1970s style. Significantly, the Stuart Art Centre in Alice Springs was the first commercial outlet to exhibit the works of the emergent Papunya painting movement.[4] 

John Kean

1 The author interviewed the artist at the newly established community at Walungurru/Kintore in April 1984. The interview covered the artist’s biography and the themes portrayed in a large canvas, The Walungurru Area (1983, National Gallery of Victoria).

2 Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: a place made after the story: the beginnings of the Western Desert painting movement, Carlton: Miegunyah Press, 2004, p.123.

3 Andrew Crocker, Charlie Tjaruru Tjungurrayi: A Retrospective, exh. cat., Orange: Orange Regional Gallery, 1987, pp. 84-85 & 88-89.

4 Luke Scholes, 'Unmasking the myth: the emergence of Papunya painting', in Luke Scholes (ed.), Tjunguṉutja: from having come together, Darwin: Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, 2017, p. 127- 161. 

Cf. Geoff Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story: the beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne 2004, Snake Dreaming [Example 1] Painting 51, page 123.