Tali and Rockhole Country, My Father’s Place

Tommy Mitchell was born in the desert, the Warakurna side of Papulankutja.

This painting depicts Tommy’s father’s country called Nganturn. Tommy’s paintings are about his early childhood experiences of travelling around tali (sandhills) and rockhole country with his family. ‘We lived in the bush, there was no hospital and no clothes and we were naked and it was cold. I hunted marlu, rabbit, tirnka (small goanna) and pussycat, it was good meat. We also collected tjarnmarta (bush onions), maku (bardi grubs) and kampuararrpa (bush raisins)’. When Tommy was small he went for a holiday and visited his cousin Peter Lewis. Both men now live in Warakurna with their families and both paint for Warakurna Artists.