Papunya tula

Settlement

The settlement of Papuni officially appeared in 1960 under the racist program of assimilation of the liberal government of Menzies. The settlement brought together aborigines from Pintupi, Anmatierre, Valpiri, Aranda, and Loritia. At first, the aborigines lived in buildings made of branches and sticks, members of the Anmatierre group lived in huts made of trees and iron. The living conditions were so terrible that 129 people (1/6 of the inhabitants of the settlement) died from infectious diseases.

However, the number of Papuni residents increased due to the influx of farm workers who did not have a job. Government workers lived in enclosed homes to which Aboriginal children were forbidden to approach. In 1970, there were 1,000 people in the settlement. In 1971, a young art teacher, Jeffrey Bardon , came to Papuna, who was repeatedly horrified by the constant humiliation of some indigenous groups by the European authorities and the difficult living conditions of Aboriginal people.

Prior to Bardon's arrival, the aborigines told their stories in the sand, and also created small artifacts for the tourist market, founded by church missionaries.

The most popular artist in Australia was Albert Namatjira , although the natives could not adopt his style, they realized the very possibility of building a career as a professional artist. Bardon noted that children draw traditional drawings in the sand. Having gained confidence from Aboriginal people, Bardon listened to explanations of children's drawings and, in turn, taught Aboriginal people to use acrylic paints ^[1] .

Papunya Tula Formation

In July 1971, seven Aboriginal students painted the outer walls of the school. They called the work "Sweet Dream of Delicious Food." The painting seemed to defy the harsh atmosphere of repression and inspired other natives to practice art.

Adult natives, instead of realistic images of trees and birds, began to write traditional symbols: footprints, circles, curved lines. The bardon encouraged a craving for creativity and distributed among them wooden boards, canvases and other materials. The natives began to create symbolic images, told about the travels of their ancestors through their lands, created abstract images of green spaces ^[1] .

• The connection of aesthetic and cult principles ^[2] .
• The prevalence of traditional characters. Among different symbols there is a symbol V - a sign of seated people. Perhaps the oval was a conditional image of the wooden vessels carried by women, and the sticks symbolized the tools used for salvation. The place presented was always surrounded by concentric circles, which meant the arrival of the natives from the water, vital for survival in the desert.
• The use of punctuation techniques (either punctate or spotted), first for individual parts of the paintings, then for the entire composition.

In October 1971, Bardon helped Aboriginal people create a Cooperative Art School in Papuna , which later turned into the Association of Papuni Artists Ltd , which opposed the policies of the Department of the Interior of the Northern Territories of Australia, which sought to exercise total control over the products of Papuni artists. Back in 1956, the Legislative Council of the Northern Territories banned the sale and purchase of paintings by Aboriginal artists to any individual or group of people (a fine of 100 euros or 6 months in prison was imposed) ^[1] .

Despite all the difficulties and confrontation between the authorities, in 1971, Kääpa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa's “Gulgardi” painting won the first Papunya Tula Prize in Alice Springs - the Caltex Golden Jubilee Art Award, along with a European-style painting. This made Kaapu the first Australian native to receive an award for contemporary art. After that, Jeffrey Bardon took a collection of paintings in Alice Springs, raised $ 1,300 for artists. It was a sensation in Papuna, artists got the opportunity to develop their own style, not focusing on Western art. Over the next six months, more than 600 paintings were sold. Not everyone in the community was pleased with the disclosure of the intimate knowledge of the natives to the outside world, and there was opposition to aspects of the early paintings. Over time, artists changed their styles to hide any secret or sacred knowledge included in the design. ^[3] In January 1972, local authorities accused Jeffrey Bardon of “illegal trade in works” and forced him to leave Papuni. Bardon rated these actions as racist threats and began selling paintings at Alice Springs. Later, relations between artists and authorities returned to normal ^[1] .

By the 1980s, Papunya Tula had secured a nationwide exposure through exhibitions in state galleries, and then, in the second half of the decade, international recognition through exhibitions in New York, London, Auckland, Paris and Venice. Papuna Tula gradually became one of Australia's most recognizable art forms ^[3] .