Details of Ungakini (Dolly) Tjangala
About
Born in 1934 at Blackstone, Western Australia, Ungakini lives and works at Ernabella.
In her words, "I was born at Blackstone, Western Australia, where I grew up with my family. I came to Ernabella mission as a young woman with y mother, father and two younger brothers. I began working in the craft room and I made floor rugs from the wool the older women were spinning and I helped rolling them into bales. I did not learn to weave, nor how to paint and I never did batik. A number of my old workmates now live in other communities that did not exist then, namely Fregon, Amata and Pipalyatjara. I continued to work at the art centre after I got married, but I also had various domestic jobs. I took up bread making with Mr Bill Edwards. The baking was done in the house where Anilaya office is now, the oven is still there. I had four children at the time. The last few years has been sad for me. I lost my first son in 2000 and my mother died the same year. My husband passed away in 2002. I first started to make art in 2002. First, mukata (beanies) from emu feathers, then I made figures from tjanpi (spinifex grass) and now I am painting on canvas - for the first time"
Her beanies and paintings have been exhibited consistently since 2002 and her artwork is in the collections of several public institutions including the MAGNT, NGA, AGSA, and the National Museum of Australia.
Tjanpi (meaning 'dry grass') evolved from a series of basket weaving workshops held on the remote communities in the
Western Desert by the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunjatjara Women's Council on 1995. Building on traditions of using fibre for medicinal, ceremonial and daily purposes, women took easily to making coiled baskets. These new-found skills were shared with relations on neighbouring communities and weaving quickly spread. Today there are over 400 women across 28 communities making baskets and sculptures out of grass and working with fibre in this way is firmly embedded in Western and Central Desert culture. While out collecting desert grasses for their fibre art, women visit sacred sites and traditional homelands, hunt and gather food for their families and teach children about country.
Tjanpi Desert Weavers is Aboriginal owned and is directed by an Aboriginal executive. It is an arts business but also a social enterprise that provides numerous social and cultural benefits and services to the weavers and their families. Tjanpi's philosophy is to keep culture strong, maintain links with country and provide meaningful employment to the keepers and teachers of the desert weaving business.
MEDIUM
Painting
Printmaking
Handspun woolen beanies (mukata)
bush baskets, fibre sculptures (tjanpi)
THEMES
Minyma Kutjara (Two women story)
Anumara (Caterpillar)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Ngura Kutju, Tjukurpa Pulkatjara, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
2010 Kayili and Ernabella, Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, NSW
2010 Recent Paintings, Chapman Gallery, ACT
2010 Ngura Nganampa, Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT
2009 Anangu Backyard, Adelaide Festival Centre, SA
2009 Tjanpi Desert Weaver, Michael Reid Gallery, NSW
2009 Celebrating Country; Kinship & Culture, Seymour College, Adelaide, SA
2009 Nyangatja Nganampa Tjukurpa (These are our stories), Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney
2009 Walka Putitja, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2009 Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Michael Reid Gallery, NSW
2008 Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2008 Woollahra, Small Sculpture Prize, Sydney
2008 Desert Mob (also with Tjanpi Desert Weavers), Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
2008 Nganampa Tjukurpa, Indigenart (Mossensson Galleries), Perth WA
2007 Skin to Skin, Tuggarong Arts Centre, Canberra, ACT
2007 Comune di Spoleto, Museum of Modern Art, Spoleto, Italy
2007 Ernabella - A Collection of New Works, Australian Dreaming Art, Melbourne, Vic
2007 Desert Diversity, Flinders Lane Galery, Melbourne, Vic
2007 Ernabella - Recent Paintings and Ceramics, Birrung Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2006 Smart Works: Design and the Handmade, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, NSW
2006 Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2006 Senior Pitjanjatjara Artists, RAFT Artspace, Darwin, NT
2005 Anangu Backyard, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, SA
2005 Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2005 Tjunpun-tjulpunpa (Bright Flowers from the Bush), Walkabout (World Vision) Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2005 Itjanu (Fresh like Flowers After Rain), Australia Dreaming Art, Melbourne, Vic
2004 Desert Threads (SALA week), Fabric of Life, Adelaide, SA and Sydney Pacific Art Fair, Sydney, NSW
2004 Beanies Like Birds, Fabric of Life, Adelaide, SA and Walkabout (World Vision) Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2004 Inuntji (Lush Like New Growth After Rain), Jam Factory Contemporary Craft and Design, Adelaide, SA
2004 Manta Atunmankunytja (Looking After Country), Flinders University Art Museum Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2003 Desert Cool, Powerstation Cafe Gallery, London, UK
2003 Desert Designs - Ernabella Arts, Raintree Gallery, Darwin, NT
2003 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards, MAGNT, Darwin, NT
2003 Ernabella Mukata, Walkabout (World Vision) Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2003 Unwrapped (Asialink SE Asian Tour), Bendigo Regional Gallery
2002 Alice Springs Beanie Festival & Mina Wala (Fresh Like Water from a Spring), Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
COLLECTIONS
MAGNT
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
Flinders University Art Museum
National Museum of Australia
Museum of Modern Art, Spoleto, Italy
Artbank
Bibliography
IAD Press, Jukkurpa Diary 2005
