• Kunga Kutjara (Two Women Dreaming) by Debra Nangala McDonald, depicting the ancestral Two Women Dreaming story passed down through Papunya Tula traditions.

    Kunga Kutjara (Two Women Dreaming)

    Debra Nangala McDonald

    Debra Nangala McDonald was born at Warumpi (Papunya), a remote community some 240km west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Debra’s maternal grandfather is Shorty Lungkata Tjungurayyi (c.1920–1987), an esteemed artist and one of the founding members of Papunya Tula Artists.

    Debra inherited the Dreaming stories that she paints from her grandfather and, like him, paints stories that are significant to the country surrounding Karrkurutinyja (Lake Macdonald) and the community of Warlungurru (Kintore), straddling the border of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

    Debra paints Kunga Kutjara Tjukurrpa, ‘Two Women Dreaming’, a story that her grandfather Shorty Lungkata passed down to her. Shorty was known to paint this story at the dawn of his artistic career in the early 1970s.

    Shorty Lungkata’s significant cultural authority and depth of knowledge resulted in striking and comprehensive representations of the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) songlines that intersected his ancestral country, including this Women’s Dreaming story. This seniority and cultural knowledge can now be seen through Debra’s own visual interpretation of the story in her striking artworks.

    In the ancient Creation era, the Dreaming, two women were walking in their country around Warlungurru and were tracking a perentie lizard for some time. When they speared the giant lizard with a digging stick, it created a soakage site at Lampintjanya, near the hills of Kintore Range.

    The two women then travelled through Kultukatjarra (Docker River) to Illiningarrara and eventually Tjukurla. Kungka Kutjara is a “big story” that holds significance for many language groups, and there are many versions of this story.

    Women's Dreaming (Two Women), 1972, by Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi
    Synthetic polymer paint on hardboard

    Shorty Lungkata’s depiction is spare and powerful, with interlocking dotted white lines and imposing red ochre ‘U’ shapes representing the two women. This work resonates with the power of song and ceremony.