Deutscher and Hackett

Born west of Kintore at the site of Titjururrunga, Walangkura is the daughter to Rartji Tjapangati (b.1898-1965) and his second wife, Inyuwa Nampitjinpa (b.circa 1920-1999). Having begun painting in winter of 1994, she started exhibiting her warmly toned works shortly after with Papunya Tula artists. ‘She had her first solo exhibition at Gallery Gabriele Pizzi in Melbourne and another at Utopia Art Sydney in 2004.’¹ Married to Johnny Yungut (Angus) Tjupurrula, she is the mother to six children and one of Papunya Tula’s most senior and desired artists.

The painting is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity form Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, which states: ‘The lines in this painting depict the sandhills in the area through which an old woman, Kutungka Napanangka, passed during her journey from the west. She travelled from Malparingya, north-west of the Kintore Community and visited the site of Tjintjintjin where there is an underground cave, also the soakage water sites of Ngatanga and Yaranga which are all west of Mantati Outstation, approximately seventy kilometers west of the Kintore Community. The large roundel shape refers to the rockhole at Tjintjintjin. She later travelled further east to Muruntji, south-west of Mt Liebig.At Muruntji she was accosted by one of a group of boys so she chased them and caught all but the culprit who managed to escape. She killed the others and cooked them in a fire. She then travelled to Kaltarra where she entered the earth. ‘

1. Johnson, V., Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, IAD Press, Alice Springs 2008, p.324