Tommy Mitchell

Mr Tommy Mitchell was born the Warakurna side of Papulankutja. This painting is about a special place called Warlpapuka. Warlpapuka (Mt Fanny) is a lone mountain surrounded by undulating plains and is located on the main road about half way between Warakurna and Papulankutja. As the anthropologist David Brooks explains, “Warlpa literally translates as windy and puka, in this context, means place. It is a central point where yarnangu (people) camped and replenish their food supplies in order to travel to other “countries”. It is an area with excellent resources such as food and wood. Warlpapuka contains many tjukurrpa, too complicated to disentangle”. Tommy‘s uncle, Mr Tjunka Lewis painted the Parrtjarta (Western quoll) tjukurrpa from Warlpapuka. Parrtjarta wati (man) is an elusive character and a bit of a trickster. He travelled everywhere, along the dry creek beds located all around Warlpapuka. Parrtjarta was very hard to find and often played tricks on different characters in the tjukurrpa. It was through collaborating with his uncle that Mr Mitchell also began painting Warlpapuka. Patjarrtja, the western quoll or western native cat (Dasyurus geoffroii) has become extinct from the Ngaanyatjarra region due to the impact of wild feral cats.