Papunya Tula, or Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artists' cooperative, formed in 1972 to market the paintings of a group of Aboriginal Australian men who had begun painting traditional designs using western art materials at the Papunya settlement, 240 km northwest of Alice Springs in Central Australia in 1971.

The name derives from a small hill near Papunya, and refers to the mythical Honey Ant ancestor of the indigenous inhabitants of the area. For many years only men participated in this commercial activity. A few women, notably Pansy Napangardi, began to paint for the company in the late 1980s, but it wasn't until 1994 that women generally began to participate. The company operates today out of Alice Springs and is widely regarded as the premier purveyor of Aboriginal art in Central Australia.

Also known as the Western Desert Art Movement, the style of painting, although traditionally used in the sand and for body adornment in ceremonies, had never been painted before in Western style – that is, using acrylic paint, and a hard surface.

Popularly referred to as "dot painting", the paintings of Papunya Tula brought Aboriginal art to world attention, and have inspired many other Aboriginal artists and styles. Some would say they have brought Australian art in general to the world stage.

Traditionally, this painting style was used for spiritual purposes, and so had strict protocols around its use. Many symbols depicted personal totems and Dreamings, and others more general Dreamtime creation stories. Once the art became popular, many symbols were therefore omitted or changed for public viewing.

Beginnings

In 1971, the school teacher at the community, Geoffrey Bardon, encouraged the children to paint using traditional body and sand ceremonial art style [1]. When some of the elder men saw this, they realised the subject matter was more suited to them, with their knowledge of such matters, and began creating a mural depicting the Honey Ant Dreaming. In an illiterate and displaced population where oral history dominated, it became increasingly evident that the paintings were the tribes' history books to Western audiences.

The Murals

The murals sparked great interest within the community as they

"had to satisfy an Aboriginal commuunity that was split quite dramatically into tribal groups and families, and people of widely different backgrounds, experience and beliefs. In particular they had to be seen by women and young people. If the subject matter were not acceptable to all these diverse groups, disputes and hostility could arise within the Papunya Aboriginal community just as they had at other settlements, missions and cattle stations." (Bardon 1991: 20)

The success of the murals soon saw many men began painting smaller paintings of their Tjukurrpa (ancestral stories) on any available surface, including bits of old masonite and car bonnets. Unfortunately, the White administrators of Papunya later painted over the murals in what curator Judith Ryan calls an affront to the assertion of Aboriginal culture in a Western society:

"...as if to signal the break with the movement's origins, the historic Papunya school murals were painted over in an unaccountable act of cultural vandalism. The school was de-Aboriginalized and the art no longer allowed to stand tall and defiant as the symbol of a resilient and indomitable people." (Ryan in Bardon 1991: x)

Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd

Their work was ignored for many years by the market and the movement experienced difficult times in its first decade. For the artists, though, painting was a relief from the hardship of Papunya, a centralised government settlement established as a marshalling point for Aboriginal people displaced from their traditional lands by cattle farmers, including the Pintupi, Anmatyerre, Luritja and Warlpiri.

In 1972 the artists established their own company, Papunya Tula, which derives its name from both the settlement's name and one of the hills in the area, Tula, a Honey Ant Dreaming site.

Dot Art or Dot Painting

The so-called 'dot painting" refers in large part to the origins of the Papunya painting movement of the 1970s. The dots were used to cover secret-sacred ceremonies. Originally, the paintings were used in addition to the oral history of Aboriginal dreamings and so they were made for cultural purposes and not the art market. The dots are, in effect, a form of camouflage:

"In 1972, the [Papunya Tula] artists succeeded in forming their own company with an Aboriginal Name: Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd...however a time of disillusionment followed as artists were criticised by their peers for having revealed too much of their sacred heritage. Secret designs restricted to a ritual context were now in the market place, made visible to kardiya outsiders and Aboriginal women. In response to these objections, all detailed depictions of human figures, fully decorated tjurungas (bullroarers) and ceremonial paraphernalia were removed or modified. Such designs and their 'inside' meanings were not to be written down and 'traded'. Any contravention broke the immutable plan of descent, the link of the initiated men with his totemic ancestor through his father and his father's father. From 1973 to 1975, Papunya Tula artists sought to camouflage overt references to ceremony and became reticent. They revealed less of the sacred heart of their culture. The openness of the Bardon era was at an end. Dotting and over-dotting, as an ideal means of concealing or painting over dangerous, secret designs, became a fashion at this stage. The art was made public, watered down for general exhibition, pointing to the uniqueness of the Geoffrey Bardon years - which like innocence, cannot be rediscovered." (Judith Ryan in Bardon 1991: ix-x)

Growth of the Movement

In the late 1970s and early '80s, after the establishment of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, many people moved back to their traditional homelands, to country as far west as Kintore and Kiwirrkura in Western Australia. In the 1980s the movement flourished and other desert communities such as Utopia, Yuendumu and Balgo began to produce works of art for an outside audience. In 2000, the Art Gallery of NSW held an exhibition, curated by Hetti Perkins, for the Sydney Olympic Games Arts Festival. This exhibition was to firmly place the movement on the national, and international, stage.

Today

The work of the Papunya Tula artists is highly regarded. The high standard of the work and its unmistakable and powerful style has resulted in the Papunya Tula artists being represented in most public galleries, major museums, institutions and many large private collections within Australia, as well as overseas.

In recent times, women artists have asserted themselves as independent and accomplished artists. A younger generation of artists has a strong voice, reaffirming the traditions of their elders and ensuring the continuance of their heritage into the twenty-first century.

Musee Quai Branly

Two Papunya artists, Tommy Watson and Ningura Napurrula, are also represented in the new museum in Paris, the Musee Quai Branly dedicated to indigenous art of the world. Napurrula's signature black and white motif appear superimposed on the ceiling of the administration part of the museum's building.

Papunya Tula artists

First Generation (The Bardon Years 1971-1973)

Anatjari Tjakamarra Charlie Tjakamarra Freddie West Tjakamarra Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra Mawukura (Mulgra) Jimmy Nerrimah Old Mick Tjakamarra Anatjari No. 1 Tjampitjinpa Kaapa Tjampitjinpa Dinny Nolan Tjampitjinpa

Old Walter Tjampitjinpa Uta Uta Tjangala David Corby Tjapaltjarri Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri - younger brother of Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, father to Gabriella and Michelle Possum Nungurayyi Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri - older brother of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri

Johnny Scobie Tjapanangka Timmy Payungka Tjapangati Old Tutuma Tjapangati Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurayyi Shorty Lungkata Tjungurayyi Charlie Tarawa (Tjaruru) Tjungurrayi Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula Johnny Warrangkula Tjupurrula

Second Generation (Present)

Long Jack Philippus Tjakamarra Andrew Tolson Tjakamarra Tony Tjakamarra Jeremiah West Tjakamarra Richard Yukenbarri Tjakamarra Raymond Maxwell Tjampitjinpa Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa Ray James Tjangala

Lindsay Corby Tjapaltjarri Adam Gibbs Tjapaltjarri James Gibson Tjapaltjarri Morris Gibson Tjapaltjarri Joseph Jurra Tjapaltjarri George Tjampu Tjapaltjarri Raymond Tjapaltjarri Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri

Donald Matthews Tjapanangka Charlie Tjapangati Kanya Tjapangati Charlie Wallabi Tjungurrayi George Ward Tjungurayyi Bobby West Tjupurrula Matthew West Tjupurrula Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula

Women Artists

Elizabeth Marks Nakamarra Narrabri Nakamarra Kawayi Nampitjinpa Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa Yuyuya Nampitjinpa Eileen Napaltjarri Monica Napaltjarri Payu Napaltjarri Tjunkiya Napaltjarri

Pansy Napangardi Bombatu Napangati Mary Brown Napangati Yalti Napangati Lorna Brown Napanangka Miriam Napanangka Walangkura Napanangka Walangkura Napanangka (Uta Uta Tjangala's widow) Maisie Gibson Napurrula Josephine Napurrula

Kim Napurrula Ningura Napurrula Tatali Napurrula Gabriella Possum Nungurayyi - daughter of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Michelle Possum Nungurayyi - daughter of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Naata Nungurrayi Nancy Nungurrayi Pantjiya Nungurrayi Doreen Reid

See also

• Australian Aboriginal art
• Geoffrey Bardon
• Papunya

External links

• Papunya Tula Gallery
• Papunya Tula Artists at the Aboriginal Art Directory
• Art Gallery of NSW, Papunya Tula Exhibition of 2000
• Papunya Tula Aboriginal Art Movement

References

• Dreamings of the Desert: Aboriginal dot paintings of the Western Desert, Art Gallery of South Australia, 1996, ISBN 0-7308-3073-X
• Geoffrey Bardon, Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert,1979, ISBN 0-86914-160-0
• Geoffrey Bardon, Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert, 1991
• Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, 2006, Miegunyah Press, University of Melbourne
• Roger Benjamin, 2005, The beginnings of the Western Desert painting movement, The Age, January 29

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