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JOSEPHINE NAPURRULA (born circa 1948)
Acrylic on Belgian linen
122 x 61 cm

The roundels in both these paintings depict the rockhole at the site of Tjukurla, near where the community now stands. In mythological times a group of women gathered at Tjukurla to perform the dances and sing the songs associated with the area. While at Tjukurla the women also spun hair that is used to make nyimparra (hair-string skirts) that are worn during ceremonies. The lines in these paintings depict the nyimparra that the women made at Tjukurla. The women later travelled north towards the Kintore region. As they travelled they gathered large quantities of the edible fruit known as pura, also known in Pintupi as pintalypa
(bush tomato), from the small shrub Solanum Chippendalei. This fruit is the size of a small apricot, and after the seeds have been removed, can be stored for long periods by halving the fruit and skewering them onto a stick. The women also collected mangata (quandong), which is a traditional staple food much sought after throughout this region.

PROVENANCE
Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd., Alice Springs, painted at Kintore 2006,
Certificate number JN0609182

Josephine was born in approximately 1948, near a rockhole site where the Tjukurla community was later established. She walked in to Haasts Bluff with a large group of people as a young girl and moved between Haasts Bluff and Papunya with her family, before later settling in Kintore. In 1999 Josephine contributed to the Kintore women’s painting as part of the Western Desert Dialysis Appeal.

REPRESENTED
Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Museums & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory
Artbank