Diversity of Survival
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri (1939-1984)
Papunya, Central Australia	Warlugulong 1976
Clifford Possum collaborated with his brother Tim Leura to create this innovative and complex Dreaming landmap painted from an aerial view, combining a number of Dreaming stories into one image. This painting’s principal subject is Lungkata, the old Blue Tongue Lizard Man, at the site of Warlugulong, near Yuendumu.
	Lungkata flicks his tongue and sets fire to a bush (seen in the centre of the painting) to punish his sons, who had been sent to hunt kangaroo. Their crimes were not to share their food, and the killing of a sacred kangaroo. The footprints of the sons are shown running from the fire which will engulf them.
	The clay pan lake country is also visited by two carpet snakes and snake men, who taught the ceremonies. Circles scattered through the painting show ceremonial sites, while the Great Snake, the Rainbow Serpent Yarapiri, travels across the top of the canvas. Patches of white at the edge of the painting depict the limestone outcrops in the country, while Emu tracks teach the linking of  clans through ceremony and visiting rites. There are Possum Men and Wedgetail Eagle stories, and groups of women are represented by footprints, as they dance across the land, celebrating a bush tucker resource.
	As a landmap, the painting reveals information imperative for physical survival in this desert region. As a reflection of the moral law, it explains the rules and obligations regarding the sharing of food. Respect for the ancestral lore equips the community for survival, precluding waste and regulating the effective management of food resources.
	Within the complexity of Warlugulong, the celebration of kinship, country and obligation, brings the desert uniquely alive.
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