Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra
Luritja / Warlpiri people WA c.1932-2001
Kalipinpa 1987
Acrylic on linen
213 x 511.5 cm
BCEC Art Collection
Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra was born near Kalipinpa, an important Rain Dreaming site north-east of Kintore. An established artist, he painted from the first days of the Papunya Tula art movement, contributing to the mural at the Papunya School. As a teenager he first saw Europeans – camel drivers – west of Mount Doreen.
Kalipinpa is a major Water and Rain Dreaming (Kapi Tjukurrpa) site in the Western Desert. As a sacred waterhole associated with rain, storms, lightning and underground watercourses, many water ancestors and lightning ancestors gathered here to create rain and fill rockholes across the country.
Here, concentric circles represent these waterholes and the sinuous lines indicate flowing water. The tracks of the ancestors who gathered here – Carpet Snake, Possum, Mala, Dingo, Tjulpu (a small bird), Luunpa (another bird) and Bandicoot – are shown around the edges of the painting.
Kalipinpa can be viewed in Plaza Gallery.