Spirit Dreaming through Napperby country
1980
Medium
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Measurements
207.7 × 670.8 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1988
© artists and their estates 2011, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
When first made, this cartographic work, that is at once a cultural self-portrait and history painting, was visionary in its dimensions. Its monumental size physically draws us into a complex and layered composition. Tim Leura incorporated miniature iterations of three of his early paintings in this composition, connecting this major work within the early history of the Papunya Tula movement. The meaning of the skeleton character has been speculated on for years and is thought, perhaps, to represent Tim Leura’s father in transition from the physical world into the Dreaming, invoking Anmatyerr beliefs that time is both circular and indivisible.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Napperby, Northern Territory
Accession Number
O.33-1988
Department
First Nations Australia
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Physical description
This work is visionary in its dimension and symphonic complexity, reaching out to encompass multiple Dreamings in a mythological topography that is indelibly scarred by the profound loss and tragic social dislocation experienced by Anmatyerre people exiled from their traditional country due to kardiya (non-Aboriginal) annexation of Napperby as a pastoral station. The painting was commissioned from Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri by Geoffrey Bardon (1940–2003), the teacher and activist whose close association with a group of 30 or more Aboriginal men at Papunya led to the founding of the Papunya Tula movement.