Walter Jangala Brown, Tingari Cycle, 122x107cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Walter Jangala Brown
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 3539/23
• Materials - Acrylic on linen 
• Size(cm) - H122 W107 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This painting depicts a portion of the Tingari cycle, a very important collection of Dreaming narratives from the Western Desert region. The country that this painting depicts is located far to the west of Yuendumu and spans a vast area of land across the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts in Western Australia. Aboriginal groups that paint the Tingari cycle include the Pintupi, Kukatja, Ngarti, and Walmajarri peoples, among others.

The Tingari cycle consists of three major Dreaming tracks. One begins west of Jupiter Well and eventually runs due east, concluding south-east of Lake Mackay; another heads south-west from near Kintore for some 200 km, and then doubles back to end at Lake Macdonald; the third runs from south to north through Docker River and Kintore.

The cycle tells the story of a group of ancient creation ancestors, the Tingari, who travelled across the country. The Tingari took different forms, some human and some animal. Humans were typically initiated men accompanied by ‘punyunyu’ (novices, uninitiated men). The men were sometimes accompanied by extremely powerful initiated women (called variously the ‘Kungka Tjuta,’ ‘Minyma Tjuta,’ or ‘Kanaputa’). Like the initiated men, these initiated women were accompanied by uninitiated women to whom they provided a ritual education. Animals featured in the Tingari cycle include the dingo, emu, kingfisher, and western quoll, among others.

As the Tingari travelled over vast areas of the country, they held initiations and other ceremonies, caused or encountered raging bushfires, hunted game, found and cooked bush-tucker, fought and killed one another, disposed of the dead or brought them back to life, interacted with totemic ancestors, copulated illicitly, made and used sacred objects, flew through the air, and died in hailstorms. In the course of these adventures, they either created or became the physical features of the sites they visited, forming rocky outcrops, waterholes, trees, salt lakes, ochre deposits, and so on. These sites which are now regarded as sacred by their descendants, today’s custodians of these places. The Tingari also laid down social custom and law as it should be practised today. Their journeys form the basis of sacred and secret men’s and women’s laws. Public paintings of the Tingari cycle typically only show the unrestricted portions of these stories.

Traditional iconography is used to represent the Dreamings, associated sites, and other elements of the Tingari cycle. In many paintings of these narratives, concentric circles represent soakages, rockholes, ancient wells, and other water features. Lines indicate rainfall and grasses that provide edible seeds after the rain, or routes taken by the Tingari as they travelled. People are represented by semi-circles. Sets of circles can represent the body-designs of the older men who are painting the bodies of the younger men, often represented as smaller circles.

Walter Jangala Brown was born in 1977 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. He comes from a long line of artists including Pintupi artist Ronnie Jampijinpa, a highly acclaimed painter and founder of the Papunya Tula Artists group. Walter went to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When he finished school, he worked for the Shire for 2 or 3 years. He now lives in Nyirripi and is married to Valerie. They have three children.

He began painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu in 2007. He paints his father’s Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming); Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming); and Yumari Jukurrpa (a collection of rocks located to the west of Kintore in the Gibson Desert). He also paints his grandfather’s Tingari Cycle. These dreamings relate directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it.

When Walter is not working or painting he plays football and goes hunting.

All paintings come with a certificate of authenticity provided by the community-run Aboriginal Art Centre, not us, which is the gold standard for ethical purchasing and documentation.

We take great pride in offering high-quality, authentic Aboriginal Art pieces to you and in addition to our 120-day returns(they don't come back), we are pleased to offer a lifetime money-back authenticity guarantee to all customers who purchase Aboriginal Art from us, both past and present.

This guarantee covers any disrepute or wrongdoing in association with the authenticity of any Aboriginal artwork ever sold by ART ARK®. We understand that purchasing authentic Aboriginal Art is important to you, and we want to provide you with peace of mind in knowing that you are getting what you expect.

We take the authenticity of Aboriginal Art seriously and are committed to providing you with high-quality and genuine works of art. If at any time you have any concerns whatsoever about the authenticity of any art piece, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will investigate further. If we find any wrongdoing or disrepute in regards to the provenance or authenticity of any artwork sold by us we will promptly provide a full refund to you at any time in the future, be it in one year, or in ten!

Please find more information on authenticity here: https://artark.com.au/pages/aboriginal-art-authenticity

All of our Desert Paintings, with the exception of the Stretched Desert Paintings Collection, are sent rolled.

Sending paintings rolled is the best option for their safe arrival and allows us to include free shipping, provide timely service, and maintain consistent and transparent pricing relating to the prices set by each Aboriginal Art centre.

The size of the painting listed relates to the painted surface. There is also a painted edge(2cm) and additional canvas for stretching.

A local framer will easily stretch the work for you at a nominal cost. Framers are everywhere and there is likely one just up the road. We recommend choosing one with good reviews and if you call ahead you will generally get a better-quoted price than if you turn up, painting in hand.

Please find further details and examples relating to framing here: https://artark.com.au/pages/how-to-frame-your-aboriginal-art