Carved river red gum 'Ngintaka' (goanna) by Topsy Tjulyata
Object No. 2004/15/3
This collection of carved animals from Uluru in the Northern Territory are a significant addition to the Indigenous collection. The Museum has a limited number of objects in the collection from the Mutitjulu community. All three of the artists are senior custodians in the community, with Topsy and Pulya being founding members of the Maruku Arts centre. Contemporary carvings by Anangu (Central and Western Desert Aboriginal people) are known as punu, hand carved and decorated with walka, patterns burnt into the wood with wire heated on a wood fire. The animals all have their associations with the Tjukurpa, the stories of the Creation Ancestors and the activities which shaped the land, the people and their Law. Tjukurpa is celebrated in inma (ceremony, song and dance), story telling and art work. Many of the details of Tjukurpa are restricted to senior custodians.
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Summary
Object Statement
Carved animal, 'Ngintaka' (goanna), river red gum, made by Topsy Tjulyata, Maruku Arts, Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia, 1999
Physical Description
Carved animal, 'Ngintaka' (goanna), river red gum, Topsy Tjulyata, Maruku Arts, Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia, 1999 The Ngintaka (goanna) is flat with a rounded top, tail and four small legs. The Ngintaka is decorated with patterns burnt into the wood.
DIMENSIONS
Height
55 mm
Width
156 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
Topsy Tjulyata began working in arts and crafts at Ernabella in the late nineteen forties and by the eighties had specialised in wood carving. She works closely with her husband Walter Pukutiwara, and after helping establish Maruku Arts is still a Governing Committee member. Topsy is one of the most expert and widely exhibited Maruku carvers and marks her work with a signature circular walka. Contemporary carvings by Anangu (Central and Western Desert Aboriginal people) are known as punu, hand carved and decorated with walka, patterns burnt into the wood with wire heated on a wood fire. The animals all have their associations with the Tjukurpa, the stories of the Creation Ancestors and the activities which shaped the land, the people and their Law. Tjukurpa is celebrated in inma (ceremony, song and dance), story telling and art work. Many of the details of Tjukurpa are restricted to senior custodians. The Ngintaka or Perentie lizard (Varanus giganteus) is the largest lizard of Central Australia and a highly prized and important food. Wati Ngintaka (Perentie Man) Tjukurpa stretches from one side of South Australia to the other, many sacred sites marking his passage from the first greedy sighting of a prized grindstone, to his death in punishment for its theft. Ngampal ngaranyi is lying 'flat out' on the ground in the typical flattened pose of a sun basking lizard. It is an adaptive habit of many reptiles to use the sun and hot ground to increase their body temperature by forming as large a surface area as possible.
SOURCE
Credit Line
Purchased 2004
Acquisition Date
11 February 2004
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