Tangki — Em Frank

TANGKI //
DONKEY

2021

Tangki (Donkey) is an animation short produced by Tjanpi Desert Weavers. I worked alsongised a team of artists from Pukatja Community as Head of Creative Development and Technical Construction.

This involved working with the artists and the animator to design and hand make every element of the film, from the armitures to the characters, to the flowers, trees, and hills.

Three film represents the stories of three Anangu women of different generations who tell how donkeys came to be malpa wiru (valuable friends and helpers), to families in Pukatja in the APY Lands.

The film won two awards at the 2022 Sydney Film Festival - the Yoram Gross Award for Best Animation and the AFTRS Craft Award - and was selected as a finalist in the 2022 Perth International Film Festival.

Key artists: Tjunakya Tapaya, imuna Kenta, Carolyn Kenta, Elizabeth Dunn, Lynette Lewis, Atipalku Intjalku and Cynthia Burke. Directed and animated by Jonothan Daw and Produced by Karen Reiderer and Michelle Young.

Materials: Native grass, wool, hand dyed raffia, metal , woolen blankets, corrugated iron, timber, paint, red dirt. glue, pins

Footage and images courtesy of Tjanpi Desert Weavers

Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council that enables women living in the remote Central and Western Desert to earn an income from fibre art. Tjanpi represents over 400 Aboriginal women artists from 26 remote communities across WA, SA and the NT.

Living and labouring on Kaurna Yarta

@em___frank