Tjimpuna Williams — 'Piltati Tjukurpa', 2025

Piltati Tjukurpa belongs to the ranges in far northern South Australia. It tells of two women, seen here with their piti munu wana (collecting bowls and digging sticks), who set out hunting and gradually draw further and further  away from home. They dig burrow after burrow hoping to find small game. Their husbands follow them and transform into Wanampi (water snakes) to lie and wait for their wives in the water hole known as Piltati. When the woman approach they are startled by the Snake Men who leap up and swallow them whole. The four then become Wanampi together at Piltati.

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Community: Ernabella (Pukatja), SA

Tjimpuna has worked across several mediums including painting, linocut prints and batik, but her chosen medium is ceramics. For 20 years she worked out of the Ernabella Arts where she honed her craft before joining the APY Adelaide Studio in 2020. In 2012 she was a finalist in the Indigenous Ceramic Art Awards at Shepparton Art Museum. 

Tjimpuna uses traditional patterns that relate to rockhole (jukula) or sand dune (tali), and also paints the Tjukurpa of her mother’s country - Piltati, near Kanpi in the APY Lands. Tjimpuna's artwork has been included in a number of exhibitions both here and overseas. Her artwork has been acquired for the collections of the National Museum of Australia, Australian National Gallery, Queensland Art Gallery and Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan

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Iriwi Arts Centre and Craft Victoria 

Iwiṟi was established by Aṉangu in 2018, many of whom had been forced to move to Adelaide due to chronic health conditions and lack of services in their home communities. Living far from their traditional homelands, Anangu were concerned about the cultural and social isolation they were experiencing and saw a need to act.  Iwiri was formed initially to help retain, promote and transmit Anangu culture and language through the areas of arts, language, knowledge and community. Since then Iwiṟi has grown rapidly into an organization that delivers a range of programs that aim to strengthen and advance Aṉangu wellbeing.

Iriwi's Artists range from highly experienced elders and knowledge custodians through to younger emerging artists. Iwiri studio is used by Anangu artists living in Adelaide as well as artists from the APY lands who are visiting for health or social reasons. The Art Studio has a strong ceramics and painting program and is experimenting with textiles.

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Material: Clay sculptural vessel

Dimensions:  100 x 200 x 260 mm

Cat. no: 25-163