CHARLIE EGALIE TJAPALTJARRI
RESIDES : PAPUNYA
LANGUAGE :WARLPIRI /LURITJA
Born at Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs) , north west of Mt Liebig around Waite Creek c. 1940, Charlie's language / tribe is Walpiri/ Luritja.
He received some basic European schooling at the mission school at Yuendemu and was initiated near Haast's Bluff. He worked as a stockman for seven years at the station at Haasts Bluff and later in Queensland. After marrying his wife, Nora Nakamarra, he worked on Narwietooma Station for another seven years . Charlie and his wife came to Papunya in the very early days of the settlement -- when there was only a couple of houses built. They have two sons and two daughters, of whom Natalie CORBY has been painting since the early 1980's under her fathers instruction .
Charlie Egalie now lives with his family at Mt Liebig ,where his mother and father have settled closer to their country round Kunajarrayi. Though he is represented in Geoffrey Bardon's book on the beginnings of the Art movement, Charlie himself dated his paintings from Peter Fannin's time running Papunya Tula Artists -------about 1972 . Billy STOCKMAN, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa and Johnny WARANGKULA, guided him in the beginning His paintings depict Women, Sugar Ant,Budgerigar, Wallaby, Bush fire and Man Dreamings art sites across this region.
Paddy Japaljarri SIMS, one of the leading Yuendemu Artists, is a close relative of Charlie's. Nora Egalie Nakamarra has occasionally painted stories of her country at Kunajarrayi since her husband showed her how to paint in 1989. Charlie Egalie's Painting of Budgerigar Dreaming was used for the front cover of Nadine Amadio's "Wildbird Dreaming. The Artist travelled to Sydney for the book launching and also represented Papunya Tula Artists at the opening of the National Gallery of Victoria's "Face of the Centre"show in 1985.
Collections :
Holmes à Court,
Michael Hollow
Art Gallery of Western Australia ,
University of W.A. Anthropology Museum ,
S.A. Museum ,
Peter Stuyvesant
(etc)
"MAN'S DREAMING"
by Charlie Egalie Tjapaltjarri
Here Charlie shares with us the story of men's dreaming:
The men start travelling from Mt Wedge which is Charlie's grandfather's country. Japaltjarri andJungarrayi, (father and son) are travelling to meet up withJagamarra and Jampitjimpa (grandfather and grandson) fromPapunya
'They come from that way y'know'' (from MtWedge)
'They Wati men they meet up cos this one mens business - this Wati one''
The concentric circles shown in this painting depict secret and sacred sites where men's initiation ceremonies take place. The background colouring of the painting depicts the ever-changing colours of the desert area around the site.
"Travellin, travellin - till they get there"
"Then this one - this Wati one"
Charlie is portraying to us a men's initiation ceremony.
A "Wati" is a fully initiated man.
There may be several different stages in the initiation process, carried
out over an extended period.It is often painful and frightening carried
out dramaticallyand in secret, all of which helps to ensure that the youth
is aware of the significance and responsibilities of the shift from boyhood
to manhood.
Due to the secret and sacred aspects of this initiation, no further information
may be obtained.