Here, Wati Tjungarrayi Kutjarra [Two Tjungarrayi Brothers] perform Kapi [rain making] ceremonies at Warlukirritji held by Wentja’s beloved father, Shorty Lungkata Tjungarrayi. He was born here, in Tjungarrayi/Nungarrayi Tjapaltjarri Napaltjarri...
Here, Wati Tjungarrayi Kutjarra [Two Tjungarrayi Brothers] perform Kapi [rain making] ceremonies at Warlukirritji held by Wentja’s beloved father, Shorty Lungkata Tjungarrayi. He was born here, in Tjungarrayi/Nungarrayi Tjapaltjarri Napaltjarri Country, south of Karrkuru nyja [Lake McDonald]. The Tjungarrayi brothers carry nulla nullas for digging, killing game, and fighting. Two large roundels represent Warlukirritji’s central rockholes, with reference to other less reliable and important sources of water as well: impermanent claypans and rockholes beyond Warlukirritji, which alone holds permanent water. One of the vast rockholes is hidden beneath small puli [rock outcrops], forever protected by Wanampi [Rainbow Serpents] Tjungarrayi and their Nangala wives. Warlukirritji is an ancient place of importance. In this painting Wentja honours her beloved kin: father, Tjungarrayi, and her two Tjapaltjarri brothers, sadly now all deceased, now forever Tingarri Ancestors. Tingarri Song and Ceremonial cycles, traversing vast deserts embed Warlukirritji in a much broader web of Law, interconnecting people, species and places. Tingarri Ancestors, human/animal, male/female, interact, live, love and die, transgress, transform, fight, and give succour, perform ceremonies, and create geophysical and geographical site features. Tingarri also modify previously isolated sites, reviving and extending more ancient and localised traditions, as occurs at Warlukirritji. Tingarri oral narratives stretch to thousands of verses, broken into different sections, held by different people, at different sites. They provide countless topographical details that assist in navigation and survival. Law enshrined in song cycles, connecting these diverse linguistic/cultural groups across vast distances. Public versions disclose no secret sacred knowledge, and Tingarri-related visual designs are usually considered dear to Pintupi families, rather than dangerous. Warlukirritji is part of one of three major Tingarri journey/song lines that traverse the Country and travels from near Walungurru [Kintore], doubling back to Karrkuru nyja and then to Ikuntji [Haasts Bluff].