Umatji Tjitayi / Pukara (20005)

Umatji Tjitayi, also known as Susan Umatji Tjitayi, was born in 1968 and is a Pitjantjatjara artist and educator from Pukatja (Ernabella) in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia.

Umatji grew up and attended school at Ernabella, where education and the passing on of language and culture have played an important role throughout her life. Her mother, Angkuna, was one of the first Anangu teachers at the Ernabella Mission, and Umatji followed in her footsteps, working as a teacher throughout her adult life, initially at Fregon and later at Ernabella. She taught at Ernabella Anangu School for around 20 years and has continued working with the primary school and family centre.

Umatji is one of four artist sisters, alongside Rhoda Tjitayi, Janet Tjitayi and Katrina Tjitayi. She began painting with the renowned Ernabella Arts in 2017, often painting after work and on weekends.

Her commitment to culture extends beyond her painting. Together with Makinti Minutjukur, Katrina Tjitayi and linguist Rebecca Defina, Umatji co-authored the 2019 research paper Pitjantjatjara language change: some observations and recommendations. The project grew from the Anangu educators’ concerns about changes occurring within Pitjantjatjara language and their desire to help keep language and culture strong for future generations.

In her paintings, Umatji depicts Tjukurpa and Country through richly layered fields of colour, repeated circles, flowing lines and intricate dot work. Among the subjects she paints are Pukara and Kaliny-kaliny (Honey Grevillea), stories connected with water, plants, ancestral beings and the living cultural landscape of the Western Desert.

Her compositions can be both bold and intricate, with strong circular forms and winding pathways creating a sense of movement across Country. Through painting, Umatji continues the same commitment to culture, knowledge and intergenerational learning that has been central to her life as an educator.

Selected Exhibitions
• 2024 – Tribute to Our Elders, Aboriginal Signature, Brussels, Belgium
• 2024 – Mantanguru | From the Sand, Artitja Fine Art, South Fremantle, WA
• 2023 – Piryakatu – Springtime, Everywhen Artspace, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
• 2023 – Caress the Earth II: Manta Ngura Atuntju Kanyini II, Aboriginal Signature, Brussels, Belgium
• 2020 – Ernabella Arts: About Place, Artitja Fine Art, South Fremantle, WA
• 2018 – Family, Signal Point Regional Gallery, Goolwa, SA

Collections
• Royal Perth Hospital

In this painting, Umatji Tjitayi depicts Pukara, an important waterhole and Tjukurpa site in Western Australia, south-west of Irrunytju (Wingellina), close to the border with the APY Lands. Pukara is associated with Wati Kutjara Wanampi, two ancestral water snakes, a father and son.

The Pukara story comes to Umatji through her father’s side of the family and tells of a father and son who became water snakes, their ancestral presence forever connected to the water at Pukara. The waterhole is said to remain full throughout the year, and the water has an unusually sweet taste. Members of the Tjitayi family would visit Pukara and fill their billycans with the water, taking it home to make tea and other drinks without needing to add sugar. The two ancestral water snakes are understood to remain at Pukara.

This sweetness is also connected with kaliny-kalinypa, or honey grevillea, which grows around Pukara. Its flowers contain sweet nectar that Anangu traditionally suck directly from the flower or place in water to make a sweet drink. In the wider Pukara Tjukurpa, the two Wanampi are closely associated with the honey grevillea and with the creation of the different varieties of these plants that continue to grow around the site.

Umatji’s painting does not simply illustrate the story. Through powerful concentric forms, winding bands, repeated lines and dense fields of dots, she creates a layered vision of Pukara and the surrounding Country. The circular forms establish strong focal points across the canvas, while the flowing lines suggest movement through the landscape and the enduring presence of water and ancestral beings.

Pukara is therefore both a physical place and a living cultural landscape, connecting water, plants, family, Country and Tjukurpa across generations.