Wintjiya Napaltjarri (1932 - 2014)

WATANUMA, 2004

synthetic polymer paint on linen

91.0 x 61.0 cm

bears inscription verso: artist’s name, size and Papunya Tula Artists cat. WN0406296

Painted at Kintore, Northern Territory in 2004
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
Private collection, Melbourne

This work is accompanied by a certificate from Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, which states:

‘The circles in this painting depict rockholes and soakage water sites at the claypan site of Watanuma, north-west of the Kintore Community. The lines represent nyimparra or hair-string skirts. These were made by a group of women, who camped at this site before travelling to the rockhole site of Malparingya and continuing east to Pinari, also north-west of Kintore.

While at Watanuma the women gathered the seeds known as mungilypa or samphire from the small fleshy sub-shrub Tecticomia verrucosa. These seeds are ground into a paste which is cooked in the coals to form a type of unleavened bread.’