Watiya Tjuta — Acrylic on canvas

Artist: MITJILI NAPURULLA

Cat#: PGIK017

Size: 176 x 180CM

Medium: Painting

Mitjili comes from a family of outstanding painters following the beginning of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement in 1971 at Papunya. A number of her family painted for Papunya Tula and achieved international recognition. Her brother was Turkey Tolson (dec.) whose works command significant recognition in the market. He and Mitjili mutually held law responsibility for the Watiya Tjuta, the tree in the central deserts from which timber is used to make powerful and steel-like spears. A major element in the creation of these spears is straightening the root- wood to near perfection. A significant number of Turkeys’s paintings were titled “Spear Straightening Dreaming”.
In this magnificent painting by Mitjili – restrained, powerful and evoking the traditional colours of natural pigments – she is painting the very source of the timber that Turkey used in making his spears, the patterns and shapes of the roots of the Watiya Tjuta.