George Yapa Tjangala
Pintupi people NT/WA c.1945
Tingari Ceremonies 1987
Acrylic on linen
213 x 210 cm
BCEC Art Collection
George Yapa Tjangala is a Pintupi artist from the Western Desert, born at Witingu near present day Kiwirrkura. He began painting in the mid 1970s with Papunya Tula artists, following early work assisting senior painters. His paintings depict Tingari stories, ancestral journeys of ceremonial men across Country, marking waterholes, camping places and ceremonial sites.
Here the artist creates a classic Tingari map, with repeated concentric circles noting the important sites the Tingari stopped at during their travels.
Through finely balanced dotting and rhythmic form, the work maps a sacred geography around Kirrpinga and Wala Wala, marking important sites where the Tingari ancestors stopped to perform ceremony.
Tingari Ceremonies can be viewed in Plaza Gallery.