Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri
Pintupi people NT c.1926-1998
Nyunman
Acrylic on linen
213 x 212 cm
BCEC Art Collection
Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri was a founding artist of the Papunya Tula movement and a leading figure in Western Desert painting. Born at Marnpi in the 1920s, his family lived a traditional lifestyle and remembered the patrols that moved through the desert to relocate Pintupi people into government settlements. Mick Namarari developed a distinctive style marked by precision, restraint and rhythmic line.
The Dingo Dreaming site of Nyunman, to the south-east of the Kintore Community, is represented in this work. In mythological times a dingo family was living at this place. Each day the parents would go hunting to get food for the pups who were left behind in the hole in which they had made their camp. The roundel represents the site and the straight lines on either side of roundel show the creek bed along which this Storyline travels. The background dots represent the sandhills at the side.