Petra Nampitjinpa
Walpiri people NT b.1966
Bush Fire Dreaming
Acrylic on canvas
213 x 230 cm
BCEC Art Collection
Petra Nampitjinpa was born in Papunya. Her father, Old Paddy Tjangala, was an important figure in the community. Petra started painting at Mt. Liebig around 1980 or 1981 and is among the first wave of women artist to begin painting in the Western Desert art movement. Like many of these pioneering women, Petra’s paintings hold an intensity of design that reflects the influence of batik making, which many women were engaged in prior to painting.
The Bush Fire Dreaming at Mt Liebig tells of a huge bush fire that began at Warlukurlangu, west of Yuendemu. It swept through Mt Liebig in the south-west, and continued for hundreds of kilometers to Amata in South Australia. The central roundel is the site of the Dreaming, with radiating lines indicating the path of the fire. ‘U’ shapes are two men of the Tjangala kinship subsection, who started the fire. Concentric circles indicate the Evening Star. Background colours and patterns represent vegetation.