Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri

• Name — Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri • Born — late 1950s • Birthplace — hillside east of modern-day Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia • Occupation — Painter • Years Active — 1987 – present • Organization — Papunya Tula • Style — Western Desert art • Spouse — Yalti Napangati • Children — 4

Tjapaltjarri was born in the late 1950s,Since he was born almost 30 years before he came to know about calendars, the exact year is not known. Some sources estimate around 1958 or 1959. near Lake Mackay, east of where Kiwirrkurra is today. His family were Pintupi hunter-gatherers who lived a traditional nomadic way of life on the western side of the lake, and had never come into contact with Euro-Australian society. Tjapaltjarri's father died when he was a young boy, and his mother remarried shortly after. Tjapaltjarri himself married his cousin Yalti sometime around 1980. He served as the family's main provider of food, hunting with spears, mirru (spear-throwers) and boomerangs. In 1984, when Tjapaltjarri was about 25, he finally came into contact with people from outside his family. Upon seeing a white man for the first time, Tjapaltjarri remembers, "I couldn't believe it. I thought he was a devil, a bad spirit. He was the colour of clouds at sunrise." A few days later, he and his family were settled at Kiwirrkurra. News of this group living nomadically so far into the modern world made headlines internationally.

Tjapaltjarri started painting in 1987, working with Papunya Tula. Initially practicing under the tutelage of other artists at the company, he finished his first painting for them in April 1987. His first public exhibition was in Melbourne, the following year. It showed eleven of his paintings, all of which were bought for the National Gallery of Victoria. He has since become one of central Australia's most well-known artists. Tjapaltjarri paints abstract images of sacred stories and songs from his family's Dreaming. The stories focus around the Tingari, the ancestors of the Pintupi, spirit beings who are believed to have created all living things. His stories are about his country and sacred sites such as Marruwa and Kanapilya. Tjapaltjarri's work often includes elaborate topographical patterns that depict sacred landscapes including Lake Mackay and Marawa where his Pintupi ancestors traveled. He does so using a series of thousands of delicate concentric lines that appear to overlap each other and eventually converge to create a sense of movement and depth. Tjapaltjarri's primary work uses colours typical of the natural ochres found in his homeland; white, dark red, grey, and occasionally black.