Wati Wangka Spiderman: Kunmanara (Harry) Tjutjuna 21 Jun - 12 Jul 2025

Kunmanara (Harry) Tjutjuna was born in the bush around 1930 at Walyjatjara, north of Pipalyatjara, remote South Australia, in the Anangu, Pitjantjatjara, Yankuntjatjarra Lands (APY). He was a senior Lawman and Ngangkari (traditional healer). Ngangkari have special abilities and are responsible keeping balance by maintaining spiritual, emotional, social and physical health of a community. As a Ngangkari he had the ability to see spirits and use powers of ‘Wati Wanka’ to heal people. Tjukurrpa is a living real thing in his paintings ... it is the power informing the work.   

Mr. Tjutjuna’s paintings are a colourful celebration of Tjukurrpa, he had the cultural authority to be inventive, he created a visual language in paint to allude to a greater knowledge system intrinsically linked to country. The ‘Wati Wanka’ is responsible for creating the place where Harry was born and the source of power that he used to heal people as a Ngangkari. 

“This is the big Spider Man, Wati paluru Ngangkari (a male traditional healer). He is a powerful and clever man. When rain comes he hides in his nest. At nighttime he changes colour. His name is Wati Wanka (Spider Man). Minyma wanka Tjuta (referring to a group of female spiders) are the women and all the children for this man, that’s the story I am the Spider Man.” Kunmanara (Harry) Tjutjuna

Kunmanara (Harry) Tjutjuna truly lived the Tjukurrpa, a Ngangkari, a respected elder, an artist with a huge personality who used his great knowledge to promote culture and heal people. It is hard to contemplate the enormity of change he experienced in his lifetime, from a traditional life on country to a sought-after artist. We get to celebrate his life and consider his creative genius with the paintings in this exhibition; they are imbued with something special and invite us into his Tjukurrpa.  

Excerpt from Dallas Gold's catalogue essay.

Exhibition Catalogue (PDF)