Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa

Water snake at Mount Allen at Palkuta. This dance wand was carved and painted by the artist at Papunya in 1975/75. Kaapa gave this dance wand to Gwen Daniels who would use it for dancing with the old women of that community during women’s ceremony. Gwen referred to it as a tjuringa (sometimes spelled churinga) but the gallery believes that its real description is a dance wand. The imagery painted shows the snake that created the landscape around Mount Allan. The wavy line shows a water soakage area that is quite extensive. The parallel pairs of lines indicate lightning and the triple lines are rain. This is the story of how this water soakage area was created back in the Dream Time.