Old Papunya Men & other works

13 AM 3926/06
Denis Nelson Tjakamarra Rainmaker & Tingari 2000
Acrylic on linen 410 x 1200mm $2060
Painted in 2000, Papunya

The painting tells the story of an important rain making ceremony in Kalipinpya to invoke the elements of a
storm. The rainmaker is represented by the man surrounded by symbols he uses to create the rain. The
background signifies the elements of the thunderstorm. Kalipinpya water dreaming is a powerful storm bringing on
the lightning, thunderclouds and rain sending its deluge to rejuvenate the earth, filling rock holes, clay pans and
creeks. It has the power to create new life and growth upon the land. Denis has inherited his father’s dreamings,
the late Johnny Warrangkula Tjupurrula. The Tingari dreaming is depicted to the top half of the painting. Groups
of mythical men and women travel throughout the country performing different ceremonies.

Denis Nelson Tjakamarra is a Loritja tribesman born c1964. Denis is the son of the late and renown aboriginal
artist Johnny Warrungkula Tjupurrula, who was among the first of aboriginal men to paint their dreaming stories
on canvas in the early 1970’s in Papunya with Geoffrey Bardon. Denis has been painting since the late 1980’s.
He paints emu and water dreamings from his country around Kalipinpa (about 200kms north west of Papunya) as
well as the dreamings his father passed onto him. Denis speaks very good English and has previously worked as a
teacher at the Papunya school for a number of years helping to overcome the language barrier for the children.
He says he enjoys painting, representing his traditional beliefs and keeping his father’s stories alive.