Tjamu Tjamu

2004

Australian Aboriginal, Ngaanyatjarra people, Patjarr, Southwestern Deserts, Western Australia, ca. 1944 - 2010

This vivid assault of circles opens a threshold to other worlds. The title, Tjamu Tjamu, is based on a morality tale of a rebellious kangaroo ancestor who wanted to marry his female relatives and thereby break kinship systems. The women resisted his advances and addressed him as Tjamu Tjamu, meaning "grandfather/grandson." Their boldness is matched by the repeating circles that have an almost mesmerizing incantatory power.

--Pam McClusky, Curator of African and Oceanic Art, 2015

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

59 13/16 x 83 7/8 in. (152 x 213 cm)

Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan

2019.20.16

Provenance: [Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2005

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. Cat. no. 9, pp. 70-71, reproduced.

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