Angelina (Tjaruwa) Woods: Tjukula Tjuta 2017

Tjaruwa comes from an area of many sand hills and rock holes which is what she paints in this painting. Kamanti is a major rock hole and within this vicinity are the water holes and significant sites of Nyuman, Kuru Ala and Tuwan. This area also has the presence of the Seven Sisters Tjukurpa running through it, an epic song line which traverses the Western Desert. The circles represent the rock holes whilst the lines of colour show the many sandhills and travelling tracks. Tjaruwa and her family were the last people to emerge from the Great Victoria Desert in 1986 where they maintained a traditional hunter gatherer lifestyle until the wider Spinifex group decided to "bring them in."

Water sources are a precious resource in the desert and feature strongly in the Tjukurpa and thus the paintings of the Spinifex artists. These stories of Creation beings with magical powers forming country as the lived their lives criss cross over the desert landscape. These beings are alive in the country today.