Dozens of Tjawina's family members were in attendance, and the opening included inma (traditional song) by Tjawina, and a speech by film producer, translator, and daughter of Tjawina, Dr. Lizzie Ellis.
Exhibition overview
Tjawina Tjukurrpa presents the most comprehensive collection of Tjawina Nampitjinpa Porter’s paintings and stories to date. Comprising of twelve works representing important sites selected by Tjawina, and a film bringing life to her paintings, her stories and her Tjukurrpa. For decades now, Tjawina has been recognised as a significant and successful artist whose firsthand knowledge of walking and living on country informs her practice. Tjawina’s works evoke the movement and energy of desert landscapes, of Yawulyu (Women’s songs) and the multilayered histories and Tjukurrpa that this Country holds. This project is a culmination of Tjawina’s desire to share her knowledge, her family’s wish to preserve it, and an imperative to celebrate the life and mastery of an extraordinary woman.
A remarkable life
Dr Elizabeth Ellis says: “Tjawina Nampitjinpa Porter is my mother. She has lived her life in desert country, a world away from the cities of Australia. It’s an arid land – a beautiful land – a network of water sources that are ours. The richness of Tjawina’s knowledge and skill comes from a life spanning immense societal change. Thanks to the power of her storytelling and her endless generosity, Tjawina continues to give not just to her families, but to the entire world.”
“The richness of Tjawina’s knowledge and skill comes from a life spanning immense societal change. Thanks to the power of her storytelling and her endless generosity, Tjawina continues to give not just to her families, but to the entire world.”
— Dr Elizabeth Ellis
It is difficult to capture the enormity of changes witnessed by Tjawina Nampitjinpa Porter during her extraordinary life. Born circa 1930 at the site of Wiruly-Wiruly deep in the Ngaanyatjarra lands of the western desert, her childhood was spent living a traditional nomadic lifestyle, acquiring the knowledge required to survive on the land. She learnt to memorise the complex web of water sources criss-crossing her country, to hunt and harvest the best bush foods at the correct times, and to understand the complex constellation of cultural and spiritual practices which ensured the continued prosperity of both land and people.
After marrying, she gave birth to two sons and one daughter at her ancestral home of Pangkurrpirri before the family were transported to Warburton mission by Native Patrol Officers MacDougall and Macaulay. As a young adult, she navigated the complex and sometimes contradictory intersections between Yarnangu life and encroaching white Australian society. After a time at Warburton, Tjawina and her family walked several hundred kilometres back to their Ngaanyatjarra homelands, where she has lived ever since.
In the 1980s, as part of the western desert homelands movement, Tjukurla community was established and is now the place Tjawina considers home, as the closest community to her ancestral country. It was in Tjukurla that she was able to dedicate herself to depicting through painting the places which are most sacred to her. For decades now, she has been recognised as a significant and successful artist whose firsthand knowledge of walking and living on country informs her practice. Layering brushwork and thick dotting onto the canvas, Tjawina’s works evoke the movement and energy of desert landscapes, of Yawulyu (Women’s songs) and the multilayered histories and Tjukurrpa that this Country holds.
While she is a prolific painter with a long career, Tjawina’s works are scattered across the country and the world, and there has been limited access for her family and community to her incredible body of work and the knowledge held therein. This exhibition presents the most comprehensive collection of her painting and stories to date, comprised of twelve works representing important sites selected by Tjawina, along with a film which provides a snapshot of her remarkable life story and Tjukurrpa knowledge. This project is a culmination of Tjawina’s desire to share her knowledge and her family’s wish to preserve it. At an estimated ninety-five years of age, Tjawina’s wit, memory, and sense of humour have not faded, and she remains joyful and vivacious. However, the reality is that she is now one of the old surviving people of the western desert, and part of an ever-shrinking group of people who remember Yarnangu life before the encroachment of colonial society. It is imperative that Tjawina’s life, generosity and mastery be celebrated, and that this celebration be shared with her and her family. The momentous exhibition of these twelve paintings and the accompanying film bring to life Tjawina’s incredible history, and express her unique character, knowledge, and skill.
