NMA collection record

'Storm Camps on the Rain Dreaming Trail' by Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, 1978


This acrylic painting depicts Walapurnpa, one of many sites on the Rain Dreaming Trail, which commences at Kalipinypa, the site of a massive thunderstorm. The three dark circles in the painting are the camps of the keeper-owners of Walapurnpa: two Tjampitjinpa men and a Tjangala man. The sinuous lines represent lightning and slashing hail. The fine white and black dots are cloud masses rolling into the blackness of the storm centre, and the fine black lines represent the water that flowed over the entire country. The larger dots indicate stony outcrops around the site. The painting by Kaapa Tjampitjinpa measures 710 mm x 555 mm. This resource includes a line diagram illustrating the symbols used in the painting and a map showing sites of significance.

Educational value

Kaapa Tjampitjinpa (c1926-89) was a key figure in establishing Papunya Tula Artists, becoming their first chairman. He came from the Anmatyerr/Warlpiri/Arrernte language groups. Tjampitjinpa, his younger 'brother' Dinny Nolan Tjampitjinpa and cousins Tim Leura, Clifford Possum and Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, all grew up on Napperby Station, north-west of Alice Springs, where Tjampitjinpa was born and later initiated. He worked as a stockman before moving to Papunya in the early 1960s. Tjampitjinpa was principal artist for the collaborative painting of the famous mural at Papunya School.




