This beautiful design has been screen printed by hand at Ikuntji Artists onto cotton.

Because all of our bags are printed on site, please allow for slight variation in prints and ink.

The clutch bags are cotton and denim with the print on the silk.

Clutch measures 20cm x 14cm

Artwork Story:

‘Rockholes Tjilkamala'

This design by Alice Nampitjinpa Dixon depicts Takupalangu west of Kintore. This is Uta Uta Tjangala’s country, which he has painted throughout his career. Nampitjinpa paints her father’s country of rockholes (puli) and sandhills (tali). There is plenty bushtucker – mangilpa, which are little black seeds around. The road to Kiwirrkurra passes Takupalangu on the side.
Alice describes the big swamp of Takupalangu, in her Fathers country. Takupalangu is filled up with bush vegetables called mungilpa. When Alice was a small girl she travelled this country with her family. Her mother used to collect mungilpa and pummel it into dough which she made into damper. It is also a good place for hunting bush meat as the swamp is surrounded by rock hills.

Alice Nampitjinpa Dixon
Alice was born in 1943 near Talaalpi, which is a swamp near and a little bit to the east of Walungurru on the Western Australian border. Prior to her painting Alice worked for many years at the Kintore School teaching the young girls dancing and the traditions of the desert people. Alice started painting on the “Minyama Tjukurrpa” – the Kintore Haasts Bluff collaborative canvas project. As a painter she is inspired by her rich cultural heritage, and thrives when involved with her stories and lore. Alice is an active “dancing woman” who travels widely to participate in annual ceremonies and “Women’s Law” meetings. Alice’s tjukurrpa is the porcupine or Tjilkamala. Her story is told in bright colours often utilizing orange and yellow to mirror the ochres that are used in ceremonial body painting. In her tjukurrpa story there is often the porcupine scurrying about rock holes and hiding places looking for tucker while nearby the women are themselves hunting, laying in wait for the porcupine. Alice is a keen hunter and likes to go hunting with Eunice Jack. Alice’s father was the late Uta Uta Tjangala, who was one of the original Papunya Tula painters. His Tjukurrpa is Pungkalungka at Takpalangu. Pungkalungka’s are dangerous, and sometimes kill and eat people. They live in huge caves in the hills. Alice only paints the entrance to the caves to signify the unknown danger of the monster that dwells within. Her father’s country is Ngurrapalangu, and her tjukurrpa has passed to her from this place – the porcupine was travelling through the sand hills and passing near the two carpet snakes, kuniya kutjarra, who were living underneath the water. Alice also enjoys the other crafts and is involved in producing hand-spindled hairstring for ceremonies and ininti necklaces and mats. She regularly goes out bush to collect ininti seeds then laboriously pierces them with hot wire to make beads for necklaces, bracelets or mats.

Dixon passed away in December 2020. 

Ikuntji Artists

Ikuntji Artists is a member-based, not for profit, Aboriginal art centre. It is situated in the community of Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji), and has a board of seven Indigenous directors all of whom live and work locally. Haasts Bluff has a population of around 150 people. 

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