About this artwork

Dora remembers visiting Pukara with her father as a child. It made a huge impression on her as she witnessed the Wanampi (water serpent ancestral being) raising from the rock hole.

Pukara, the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa is one of the most important and extensive stories from the Western Desert region and has played a major role in the formation, character and religious significance of the entire Spinifex area. Two wanampi (serpent beings), a father and a son are travelling together on initiation and ceremonial business. The father is accompanying his son as he sets out on what will be the most significant and powerful journey of his life in a tribal setting. As the two snakes pass across the country they are involved in a range of actions and events that have given rise to the geographical and mythological landscape present and maintained to this day. At Pukara while the father was sleeping, the Anangu children from the area crept into the camp. They called out relentlessly taunting the son. Teasing him saying his eyes were bulging like eggs. The son who was already unstable got wild and hit out at the children.