Sand paintings of the Western Desert: a demonstration

Australia, 1981

Film
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Aboriginal artists, Paddy Garrol Tjungarrayi and Dinni Nolan Tjampatimpa, demonstrate the making of a sandpainting - a traditional art form intended to be impermanent. The paintings are made in a ritual manner and then destroyed as they are danced upon during a corroboree. Shows the adaptation of western technology by the Papunya people to this traditional art form.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Stephen O'Rourke

co-producer

Penelope Jools

Stephen O'Rourke

production company

ABC-TV (Australia)

Penelope Jools

Stephen O'Rourke

Duration

00:10:00:00

Production places
Australia
Production dates
1981

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

303305

Language

English

Subject categories

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Western Australia

Aboriginal Australia → Art, Aboriginal Australian

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Papunya (N.T.)

Crafts & Visual Arts → Art, Aboriginal Australian

Crafts & Visual Arts → Sandpaintings

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

People → Tjampatimpa, Dinni Nolan

People → Tjungarrayi, Paddy Carroll

Places → Papunya (N.T.)

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/82165--sand-paintings-of-the-western-desert-a-demonstration-a/ |title=Sand paintings of the Western Desert: a demonstration |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=14 July 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}