Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art

Water Dreaming

Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Walter Tjampitjinpa were custodians of the Water Dreaming and of the important site of Kalipinypa, where Winpa the Lightning Boss sang up a huge storm and created a series of waterholes, which now mark his songline. Both artists are best known for their paintings of the Storm Dreaming at Kalipinypa, producing many variations of Kalipinypa in 1971–1972, the time of an unusual season of flooding rains and its ensuing regeneration of plant life in the Papunya area. This season of abundance caused the song cycles of the Water Dreaming performed in ritual to resonate in the imagination of many Papunya artists.

Whereas Walter created graphic representations of the cluster of designs that signify water embellished with dots, Warangkula characteristically laid down dots over a framework of symbolic lines and motifs associated withKalipinypa and also worked up his surfaces with tiers of irregular, impulsive marks. Warangula established an analogy between the dotted field, traditionally associated with ritual decoration, and the depiction of vegetation that sprang up in response to rain. The use of dots to describe vegetation was a metaphor that would sustain him throughout his artistic career.