HECTOR TJUPURU BURTON - ANUMARA TJUKURPA

HECTOR TJUPURU BURTON
ANUMARA TJUKURPA, 2012
acrylic on linen
122 x 153 cm
 
PROVENANCE
Tjala Arts, Amata, SA Cat No. 584-12
Short St. Gallery, WA Cat No. 788812
Private Collection, WA  
Art Leven, NSW
 
 
STORY
This painting is about kinship groups as related through a particular ceremony which the Hector Burton went through in his youth. The artist is in one group – the south. Their totem and tribal kinship is associated with Anumara, a large edible caterpillar with a hook on its tail. Hector Burton's uncles, nephews and their fathers are in the northern group associated with Muya Muya and Ngalyakanti, different caterpillars. All the caterpillars travelled from places in the north and the south and all met up in one resting place (ngura). When the minima (women) and tjitji (children) arrived, the women danced in the fire and gave the men a ceremonial stick. This ceremony was not performed for a long time, until reenacted in the early years of this millennium with a group of men from Amata.