Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM: Waru (Wallaby) listening 2017

Tjunkaya Tapaya is a senior weaver in Pukatja (Ernabella), South Australia. Tjunkaya has exhibited widely and is an artist of great renown. This whimsical sculpture of a waru with big ears, listening for danger or the sounds of the desert wind displays Tjunkaya's great knowledge of the charakter and nuances of the animals that surround her desert home. Waru, as with Marlu (kangaroo), are highly prized for their meat and much kudos goes to the succesful hunter who brings back waru or marlu from a hunting trip for his family.

Tjanpi weaving evolved from a series of basket making workshops held on remote communities in the Western Desert by the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council in 1995. Tjanpi sculptures were first produced in 1998 when Kantjupayi Benson, from Papulankutja, added a handle to a basket and made a grass 'pannikin' (metal cup) followed by a set of camp crockery and a number of dogs.

Anangu women of the Central and Western Desert have for a very long time worked with natural fibres to create items such as bush sandals (wipiya tjina), pouches (yakutja), hair-string skirts (mawulyarri), and headrings (manguri) for daily and ceremonial use. Adding a contemporary spin to the traditional, women now create baskets, vessels and an astonishing array of vibrant sculptures from locally collected desert grasses bound with string, wool or raffia and often incorporated feathers, seeds and found materials.