Wirrimanu (Balgo)

1999

Balgo Men (Tjumpo Tjapanangka, 1929–2007; Michael Mutji Tjangala, ca. 1940–2002; Jimmy Tchooga, born 1951)

Australian Aboriginal, Kukatja and Pintupi peoples, Balgo (Wirrimanu), Kimberley/ Western Desert, Western Australia

Three men coordinated this version of the same country that the women of Balgo depict in the painting nearby. In a similar border, the creek lines established by the Kingfisher are recorded. Knowing that people would need water, the Kingfisher gathered them together and showed them the waterholes that he created (seen as roundels). Footprints are supplemented with symbols to identify who’s who. One group carries spears, while those in the middle of the painting have fire sticks and oval bags in which they carry fire. The formal composition of this work echoes that of ceremonial ground painting.

--Pam McClusky, Curator of African and Oceanic Art, 2012

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

71 1/4 x 116 9/16 in. (181 x 296.1 cm)

Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan

2019.20.13

Provenance: [Coo-ee Aboriginal Gallery, Sydney, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2000

Photo: iocolor, Seattle

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection, May 31 - Sept. 12, 2012 (Nashville, Tenessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, June 23 - Oct. 15, 2017; Madison, Wisconsin, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Jan. 26 - Apr. 22, 2018; Austin, Texas, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, June 3 - Sept. 9, 2018; Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, Audain Art Museum, Oct. 5, 2018 - Jan. 28, 2019). Text by Pamela McClusky, Wally Caruana, Lisa Graziose Corrin, and Stephen Gilchrist. No cat. no., p. 146, reproduced pl. 1.

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