True Stories
Artist:
Linda Syddick Napaltjarri
(Indigenous Australian, born 1937)
Place made:Australia
General region:Oceania
Date: 2005
Medium: Acrylic on linen
Dimensions:
59 13/16 x 48 1/16 in. (152 x 122 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of the Lam Family
Object number: 2016.14.59
Copyright: © Linda Syddick Napaltjarri
Provenance: May Lam and Dr. Dorothy Lam, by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2016
Label Text
Intricate layers of dotting on a red ground comprise the background of this painting, creating an aerial topographic view of the dunes and sandhills of the Western Desert region. The central figures are Emu Man and Emu Woman in their human forms—ancestral beings associated with the formation of Lake MacKay, where Linda Syddick Napaltjarri is from. Below these figures, Napaltjarri included the Tingari Dreaming in its traditional form, as a sand painting. The three-pronged symbols represent emu tracks, while the connected circles and lines represent the travels of Emu Man and Emu Woman during the Creation Period.
The Tingari Cycle is an important collection of Dreaming stories specific to the Western Desert region. After her biological father’s untimely death, Napaltjarri was raised by her stepfather, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi (Pintupi, ca. 1920–1987), a founding figure of the Western Desert painting movement. She learned painting techniques from him and was entrusted with his Tingari Dreaming of the Emu Man.
The Tingari Cycle is an important collection of Dreaming stories specific to the Western Desert region. After her biological father’s untimely death, Napaltjarri was raised by her stepfather, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi (Pintupi, ca. 1920–1987), a founding figure of the Western Desert painting movement. She learned painting techniques from him and was entrusted with his Tingari Dreaming of the Emu Man.
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
