Kalipinypa

This painting depicts Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa, a sacred site north-east of the remote Aboriginal community of Kintore, Northern Territory. The painting tells the story of the rain and hail-making ceremony for the site of Kalipinypa. Ancestral forces are invoked to bring on a powerful storm with lightning, thunderclouds and rain, which sends a deluge to rejuvenate the earth, filling the rock holes, clay pans and creeks and creating new life and growth upon the land. Today the Nakamarra, Tjakamarra, Napurrula and Tjupurrula men and women are the custodians of this important Water Dreaming site and celebrate its stories in the ceremonies. The forms created by the repetition of lines represent the sandhills making waves across the desert, but Charlotte says they are also symbolic of water courses and ceremonial body paint. 

 

Charlotte Phillipus Napurrula was born in Ikuntji / Haasts Bluff in 1957, daughter of Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, a founding member of Papunya Tula Artists. Over the years painting at Papunya Tjupi, Charlotte has developed her own unique and meticulous version of Kalipinypa Kapi Tjukurrpa (Water Dreaming) that focuses on the tali (sand) aspect of her country. She often paints this story as two colour, large scale works, allowing for the line work Charlotte is so well regarded for to take centre stage. She also paints her own distinct style of children’s stories that she developed when working at the Papunya School. Many of her illustrations can be found in the archive of the school from the days when teaching in traditional language was encouraged.