Lot 55: PADDY TJAMATJI (JAMPIN) , CIRCA 1912-1996 KANANGANJA - MT KING, BEDFORD DOWNS Natural earth pigments and natural binders on plywood

Bears title (some obscured) on the reverse Natural earth pigments and natural binders on plywood

62.5 by 122.5 cm

Painted at Warmun (Turkey Creek) circa 1985
Mary Macha, Perth
Private collection

Cf. For related paintings of Kananganja on Bedford Downs see Tjamatji's Bedford Downs Country (Emu Dreaming), c.1987, in the Holmes à Court Collection, in Akerman, K., Paddy Jaminji: 'I bin Paint 'im first', Holmes à Court Gallery, Perth, 2004, cover; see also Rover Thomas' Kananganja, 1984, and Kananganja, (Mount King), 1988 in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, in Thomas, R. et al, Roads Cross: The paintings of Rover Thomas, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994, p.39 and p.55 respectively, illus

Kananganja (Mt King) is on Bedford Downs Station where Tjamatji was born and lived most of his life. Kananganja is a site in the Kurirr Kurirr Dreaming visited by the spirit of the deceased woman and her spirit guide on their journey to the east Kimberley. A massacre of Aboriginal people occurred here around 1924, and the Kurirr Kurirr songs make reference to the shadows (spirits) of the dead people at Kananganja (Thomas, 1994, p.26)