Tarrkunya, 2001

RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA
Tarrkunya, 2001
Acrylic on Belgian linen canvas
180 x 300 cm

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Artist Ronnie Tjampitjina, title Tarrkunya 2001. Tarrkunya alludes to a site near Wimpaku, Mount Webb, west of Alice Springs, over the border of Western Australia. This painting tells the story of the Tingari ancestors in the dream time, time of creation, but at different sites and performing different deeds. According to the artist, the story retold in this painting is part of the Maliyara, or high school ceremonies of tribal initiation for men. This painting uses concentric boxes of lines to depict sacred and secret sites, giving a different and more contemporary artistic effect. There is great strength in the relatively simple composition of Tarrkunya. The two rows of ochre coloured forms are dominant against the three rows of red forms, suggesting movement of the travelling tingari. But the secret narrative coded within the work does not necessarily follow the horizontal chronology a non-Indigenous mind might assume. Uninitiated are not entitled to know and would not be capable of understanding the details of this story. Extended viewing of the painting evokes the impression of waves of heat shimmering on the desert floor. The shimmer effect is enhanced in the parts of the painting where the lines are executed with kind of saw-toothed rather than straight edges. The right angles within the rectangular forms align visually to create pulsating diagonals and an optical illusion which causes triangular and diamond-shaped surfaces to emerge in 3D. The whole painting appears animated with mythical history, but in the midst of all the movement, the elongated blank spaces scattered across the painting provide a lovely contrasting and enigmatic stillness.