Katungka was one of the daughters of Katarra Nampitjinpa, an important Pintupi artist who painted originally with the Papunya Tula Artists and then later with Ikuntji artists at Haasts Bluff. Katungka watched her mother and sister, Permungka, paint for many years but she only started painting regularly after her mother passed away in1999.
Katungka drove 100 kilometres round trip to and from Papunya every day to paint her stories. She was a devout Christian who was married to Pastor Murphy and regularly participated in religious ceremonies. Katungka appeared to reconcile both traditions with respect and integrity and was deeply committed to the transmission of knowledge of both cultures.
Katungka painted her mother's dreaming stories or tjukurrpa from her country Ulkapa, near Kintore and the tjukurrpa from her own country at Intinti, both of which are far west of Haast's Bluff, over the West Australian border. The stories at Intinti involve women hunting for kuniya or carpet snakes with nullanullas. The two kuniya disappear down rockholes, hiding from the women.
Katungka lived in Alice Springs and was a diayalisis patient. In 2003 Katungka developed her white saltlake works. These were expanded and developed with fine markings all over the white canvas. Shadow forms are seen as marks in the salt lake. These marks represent people travelling, the wind shifting the salt, animal tracks and the myriad marks left on the salt pan by even the most minor change in the environment.
No products found in this collection
