Tracker Nat Warano’s art of ngijinkirri, the Tennant Creek Brio and Warumungu history

Abstract

During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s the Warumungu carver Nat Warano, better known as Tracker Nat, produced drawings and painted carvings as gifts and for exchange in the town of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. His art practice was a part of his role as a leader of the Warumungu community, as he played a role in moving the community from a reserve outside the township to Warrabri to the south. His gifting of carvings was part of a history and tradition of ngijinkirri among Warumungu people, in which gifts brought the recipient into a state of obligation to the giver. Ngijinkirri put teachers and politicians into this state of obligation, as Nat gifted painted carvings to them. Since the rediscovery of Nat, and of the history and style of his art, his carvings have been identified in both public and private collections. Since beginning the research on Nat, the authors of this article have attributed drawings and painted carvings in public collections and passing through commercial auctions, and it is anticipated that there are many more yet to be identified.