WOMEN AT THE ROCKHOLE SITE OF UMARI, 2004

Important Australian Indigenous Art
Melbourne
22 March 2023
9

TJUNKIYA NAPALTJARRI

(1927 - 2009)
WOMEN AT THE ROCKHOLE SITE OF UMARI, 2004

synthetic polymer paint on linen

183.0 x 244.0 cm

bears inscription verso: artist's name, size and Papunya Tula Artists cat. TN0409116

Estimate: 
$20,000 – $30,000
Sold for $24,545 (inc. BP) in Auction 73 - 22 March 2023, Melbourne
Provenance

Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
Private collection, Victoria

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Papunya Tula Artists which states:

'This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole site of Umari, situated in sandhill country east of Mt. Webb in Western Australia. A number of women gathered at the site to perform ceremonies associated with Umari. The women, one of the Nangala kinship subsection and the others of the Napaltjarri kinship subsection, later travelled towards the east. One of the mythologies associated with the area concerns a relationship between a man of the Tjakamarra kinship subsection and a woman of the Nangala kinship subsection. This is a mother-in-law relationship which is forbidden in Western Desert Aboriginal culture.'