Tingari Designs 1 - Peg Leg Tjampitjinpa
Tingari Designs 1 - Peg Leg Tjampitjinpa
Acrylic on Canvas 60 x 40cm
Stretched $2000
Until 1957 Pegleg in the vicinity of Wilkinkarra, and in 1964 he moved with his family to Yuendumu. He was a trustee of the Wilkinkarra Land Trust.
Pegleg lived at Nyirrpi and began painting when visiting his friend and relation Punta Pinta Tjapanangka at Walungurru. his paintings evoke the style of some works of the early 1970’s that favour a limited palette and focussed on Tingari design. After Pinta Pinta’s death, and due to his failing eyesight, Pegleg stopped painting.
This painting was exhibited at Pegleg’s first exhibition in many years after a successful eye operation restored his sight. Pegleg is mentioned in the books ‘Bindibu Country’ by Donald Thomson (1975) and ‘The Lizard Eaters’ by Douglas Lockwood (1964).
Pegleg’s paintings featured in the important exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW ‘Papunya Tula - Genesis and Genius’ in 2000. He is represented in major public and private collections throughout Australia and overseas.
This particular painting is of the Tingari Cycle and represents an aspect of the Tingari creation event.
The Tingari travelled over vast stretches of the country, performing rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari Men were usually followed by Tingari Women and accompanied by novices, and their travels and adventures are enshrined in a number of song cycles.
These creation stories form part of the teachings of post-initiatory youths at the same time providing the basis for contemporary customs. Since events associated with the Tingari Cycle are of a secret nature no further details are given.