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RAY JAMES TJUNGALA
TITLE: Yunala Dreaming
SIZE: 46cm X 91cm
MEDIUM: synthetic polymer paint on canvas
YEAR PRODUCED: 2007
PROVENANCE: Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd.
This painting depicts designs associated with the soakage water site of Yunala, west of Kiwirrkura in Western Australia. In ancestral times a group of Tingari men camped at this site before continuing their travels further east to Pinari. There they gathered the edible roots of the bush banana or silky pear vine (Marsdenia australis), also known as Yunala, which is plentiful in the region. Since events associated with the Tingari Cycle are of a secret nature, no further details were given.1
1Courtesy of Ray James Tjangala and Papunya Tula Artists.
The Tingari cycle refers to a journey undertaken by a group of creation ancestors in the time of the Tjukurrpa. Their paths, their important sites and their activities cover a huge area stretching from Pintupi country (around the Papunya region), to the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts (close to Balgo Hills)1. They are known for having brought law and culture to the world, and when their lives ended, they were to take both human and animal forms. The importance of the Tingari cycle in Aboriginal culture is evident in the many paintings that represent sites and episodes associated with these ancestors.
1McCulloch, S. Contemporary Aboriginal Art, a guide to the rebirth of a culture pp.76-77
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