Wingu Tingima facts for kids

Wingu Tingima (died March 8, 2010) was an amazing Indigenous Australian artist from central Australia. She was born in the Great Victoria Desert and grew up living a traditional life in the bush. She had no contact with Western ways of living for a long time.

Wingu was a member of the Pitjantjatjara people. She painted spiritual stories from her Dreaming, which are important beliefs and stories for Indigenous Australians. Wingu became one of the most famous artists to paint in the Western Desert style, along with her friend Eileen Yaritja Stevens.

Even though she only started painting less than 10 years before she passed away, Wingu's art is now in many big art collections across Australia. These include the National Gallery of Australia and major art galleries in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia.

Wingu's Early Life

Growing Up in the Desert

Wingu Tingima was born around the late 1910s or early 1920s. Her birthplace was Nyumun, which is a special rock hole in the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia. This place is very important for Pitjantjatjara men. It is connected to the Waḻawuru Tjukurpa, which means Eagle Dreaming.

Wingu grew up living a semi-nomadic life with her family. This means they moved around their land near Kuru Ala, which was close to where she was born. Kuru Ala is a sacred place linked to the Kungkarungkara (Seven Sisters Dreaming). Wingu would later paint this story in many of her most important artworks.

Learning Traditional Skills

From a young age, Wingu learned many traditional desert crafts. Her mother and aunts taught her how to weave belts from hair-string and manguṟi (head rings). These were made from hair, fur, feathers, and a tough grass called spinifex.

She also learned to spin hair-string using a traditional hand-held spindle. Wingu became skilled at carving wooden tools. These included wana (digging sticks), piti (bowls), wira (digging scoops), and kaṉilpa (basins used for collecting seeds). During ceremonies with other Aṉangu families, Wingu and other girls would paint each other with special designs.

Moving to Communities

Life at the Mission

When Wingu was older, she and her parents walked to a mission at Ernabella. Many other Pitjantjatjara families also moved there. At Ernabella, Wingu worked spinning sheep's wool to make rugs and other items for the mission. While living there, Wingu became very good friends with Eileen Yaritja Stevens. They would later work closely together as artists.

Settling Closer to Home

In the 1980s, the community of Irrunytju was created. Wingu moved there with her family so they could be closer to their home country. Eileen Stevens moved to Nyapaṟi with her family. Wingu spent most of her life traveling between these two communities.

Wingu's son, Winmati Roberts, married Eileen's daughter, Yaritji Stevens. As Wingu and Eileen became more successful with their art, they became the main people earning money for their families. Several of their grandchildren are now artists too.

Wingu's Art Career

Starting as an Artist

The community art center, Irrunytju Arts, opened in 2001. Wingu was one of the very first artists to join. She quickly became successful and had her first exhibition in Melbourne in 2002. That same year, her work was shown in the "Desert Mob" exhibition in Alice Springs.

One of her paintings from this exhibition was chosen as a finalist for the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) in 2003. Even in her first artworks, Wingu's style was special. It stood out from other artists at Irrunytju. She used lighter colors and curvier lines. Other artists at the center often used bright colors and block shapes.

Working at Tjungu Palya

From 2006, Wingu also started working in Nyapaṟi when the Tjungu Palya art center was set up. Wingu supported this new center by painting there, but she also kept painting for Irrunytju Arts. One of her first paintings for Tjungu Palya was chosen as a finalist for the NATSIAA award that year. Over the next few years, Wingu mainly worked in Nyapaṟi.

Wingu often painted alongside her friend Eileen. They shared creative ideas and traveled to exhibitions together. Eileen passed away in 2008. After this, Wingu left Nyapaṟi. It is a custom among Western Desert people that grieving family members move away from the place where someone has died. Wingu moved back to Irrunytju and continued to paint there. She kept achieving success until her death on March 8, 2010, when she was about 90 years old.

Wingu's Artwork

Stories and Style in Her Paintings

Wingu's paintings focused on her spirituality. She showed Dreaming stories, called Tjukurpa, that were connected to her homeland. Most of her paintings are about the Kungkarungkara (Minyma Tjuta, or Seven Sisters).

This Tjukurpa story is closely linked to Kuru Ala, the sacred women's place where Wingu grew up. The story tells how the seven sisters stopped at Kuru Ala during their travels in the Dreamtime. They were running away from a man who was trying to catch them. This man had supernatural powers and could change into many things. There are different versions of the story, but Kuru Ala is where the man tricked the sisters by turning himself into a fruit tree. This story comes from a group of stars: the sisters are the Pleiades star cluster, and the man chasing them is Orion.

Wingu used traditional images, patterns, and icons to paint these stories. However, her artwork did not show them in a clear or easily recognizable way. The images were often hidden, and their meaning was not obvious. She mixed many styles, including ancient desert images passed down through sand drawings, rock art, and body painting. She used modern tools and techniques to create her art. One art expert noticed that her style would change depending on where she was painting. Her brush-strokes and color choices were different when she painted at Tjungu Palya compared to Irrunytju Arts.

Recognizing Her Talent

Wingu's paintings of the Kungkarungkara story were chosen as finalists in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2003, 2006, and 2008.

In 2009, Wingu's art was shown in New York City as part of an exhibition called "I Have a Dream." This was an international tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.. Her artwork has been shown in many other cities, including Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Alice Springs, Broome, Darwin, and Singapore. Her work is part of the collections at the Gallery of Western Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery of Australia, and the Australian National University.