Simon Yungut Tjakamarra 208-25

Simon's paintings depict the dreaming stories and the travels of the Tingari, using the traditional concentric circle and line design. Tingari refers to the Dreaming and its Laws for the Pintupi language group of the Central Western Desert. The Tingari is the Creation era when the Dreamtime Ancestors moved across the lands, creating the features of the landscape and all aspects of the natural world. The Tingari story is mostly of a secret nature, and the men are usually given greater emphasis than the women. Aboriginal people believe the Creation or Dreamtime is the beginning of ‘knowledge’, when the laws of existence were put together. It is also the beginning of time when the supernatural Ancestral beings were born out of their own eternity. It is said the Ancestors moved across the then barren surface of the world, holding ceremonies, hunting and fighting. In doing so they changed the form of the land creating the mountains, rivers, trees, plains, water holes and sand hills. The Ancestors were honoured by Aboriginal people in corroborees performed at sacred sites where the spirit of the Ancestors had became part of the landscape, or turned into entities such as rocks or trees. Simon draws inspiration from his father, Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula of the Western Desert, with visible evidence of the style and tjukurrpa being passed down.