Tjimpuna Williams, Piltati Tjukurpa, 91x62cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Tjimpuna Williams
• Community - Ernabella
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Iwiri Arts 
• Catalogue number - 260-23
• Materials - Acrylic paint on canvas
• Size(cm) - H91 W62 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The Piltati Tjukurpa belongs to the ranges in far northern South Australia. It tells of two women with their piti munu wana (collecting bowls and digging sticks), who set out hunting and gradually draw further and further away from home. They dig burrow after burrow hoping to find small game. Their husbands follow them and transform into Wanampi, water snakes, to lie in wait for their wives in the water hole known as Piltati. When the woman approach they are startled by the Snake Men who leap up and swallow them whole. The four then become Wanampi together at Piltati.

Tjimpuna has worked across several mediums including painting, linocut prints and batik, but her chosen medium is ceramics.

In 2012 she was a finalist in the indigenous Ceramic Art Awards at Shepparton Art Museum. Tjimpuna uses traditional patterns that relate to rockhole (tjukula) or sand dune (tali), and also paints the Tjukurpa of her mother;s country - Piltati, near Kanpi in the APY Lands. Other pieces are her personal walka or design. These designs are drawn from batik patterns and from her own interpretation of images from country and ceremony.

In 2011 Tjimpuna's ceramics were featured in an Ernabella exhibition at the South Australian Museum. She undertook a residency at the JamFactory in the same year. In 2012 Tjimpuna participated in the Australian Ceramic Triennale in Adelaide.

Tjimpuna and Derek Thompson were awarded a New Work grant by the Australian Council for the Arts and in 2013 undertook a big pot in Ji gdezhen, China. This work was exhibited in 2014 at Sydney's prestigious Sabbia Gallery. Tjimpuna has also travelled to Korea and Signapore for her art practice. in early 2015 Tjimpuna and Derek returned to Jingdezhen, and the work made then was exhibited with Sabbia Gallery in Sydney and at the Australian Ceramic Triennale in Canberra in June and July 2015.

In 2016 Ernabella was a key contributor to the collaborative ceramics installation created for the 2016 Indigenous Ceremic Art Award. The work involved seven women potters telling the important Seven Sisters Tjukurpa and was exhibited at Shepparton Art Museum. In 2016 Tjimpuna also exhibited in the Pukatjalanguru kungka tjuta kunpu warkarinytja  - Ernabella wome: Strong work, together exhibition at Sabbia Gallery.

Tjimpuna's artwork has been acquired for the collections of the National Museum of Australia, Australian National Gallery, Queensland Art Gallery, and Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan.

Iwiṟi was established by Aṉangu in 2018, many of whom had been forced to move to Adelaide due to chronic health conditions and lack of services in their home communities. Living far from their traditional homelands, Anangu were concerned about the cultural and social isolation they were experiencing and saw a need to act.  Iwiri was formed initially to help retain, promote and transmit Anangu culture and language through the areas of arts, language, knowledge and community. Since then Iwiṟi has grown rapidly into an organization that delivers  a range of programs that aim to strengthen and advance Aṉangu wellbeing.

Iwiri strengthens the Aṉangu community through cultural and arts activities, creating employment opportunities and enterprise development. We want our young people to be strong in their language and culture and to take up opportunities to work in our community.

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