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WINTJIYA NAPALTJARRI (born circa 1930)
Acrylic on Belgian linen
122 x 122 cm

This painting depicts designs associated with the claypan site of Watanuma, northwest
of the Kintore Community. In mythological times a group of women,
represented by the ‘U’ shapes, gathered at this site to perform the dances and sing the
songs associated with the area. They also spun hair-string for making nyimparra
(hair-string skirts) which are worn during ceremonies. The nyimparra in this
painting are depicted by the lines with the adjacent short bars. Upon completion of
the ceremonies at Watanuma the women continued their travels to the rockhole site of
Malparingya and then continued east to Pinari, also north-west of Kintore. As they
travelled they gathered large quantities of the edible fruit known as pura, (also known
in Pintupi as Pintalypa) or 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.

PROVENANCE
Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd., Alice Springs, painted at Kintore 2006,
Certificate number WN0602182

Wintjiya was born at Malparingya, north-west of the Kintore Community and she is
the second wife of Turkey Tolson’s father. She later moved to Haasts Bluff with her
husband and then to the Papunya Community when it was established. She
participated in the Kintore/Haasts Bluff joint project which was the beginning of her
career, but now paints for Papunya Tula. In 1999 Wintjiya contributed to the Kintore
women’s painting as part of the Western Desert Dialysis Appeal.

REPRESENTED
National Gallery of Victoria
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory
Araluen Collection, Alice Springs
Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands