Thomas Tjapaltjarri (born Tamayinya Tjapangati, also often known as Tamlik) is an Australian

Aboriginal art Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving ...

ist. He and his brothers Warlimpirrnga and Walala have become well known as the Tjapaltjarri Brothers. Tjapaltjarri and

his family ''His Family'' is a novel by Ernest Poole published in 1917 about the life of a New York widower and his three daughters in the 1910s. It received the first Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918. Plot introduction ''His Family'' tells the story of ...

became known as the last group of Aborigines to come into contact with modern,

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

society. They came out of the desert in 1984, and became known as "the last nomads".

Early life

Tjapaltjarri was born in the desert of Western Australia sometime in the 1960s. He and his family lived a traditional nomadic way of life on the western side of Lake Mackay. They had never come into contact with

society. Most other Pintupi families had been settled in remote towns to the east and west of their traditional country during the 1950s. Tjapaltjarri's father, Lanti (or "Joshua"), had lived for a short time at the mission in Balgo, but he had run away after getting into trouble for stealing food. It was his decision to stay in the desert, and he kept his family far away from the towns. Tjapaltjarri's mother was named Nanu. He also had two other mothers, Papunya and Watjunka, who were his father's secondary wives. He had two younger sisters, Yalti and Yukultji, a younger half-brother Walala, and four other "siblings" (cousins by blood relation). His father died sometime around 1980. The family finally came into contact with outsiders in October 1984, and were settled at

Kiwirrkurra Kiwirrkurra, gazetted as Kiwirrkurra Community, is a small community in Western Australia in the Gibson Desert, east of Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland and west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Alice Springs. It had a popul ...

. The event was big news at the time, and the family became famously known as "the last nomads". Tjapaltjarri was diagnosed with epilepsy shortly after this.

Painting

Tjapaltjarri began painting in December 1987, a few years after settling at Kiwirrkurra. His cousin Warlimpirrnga had already made a name for himself as an artist and he encouraged Tjapaltjarri to paint too. Tjapaltjarri and Walala joined the

Papunya Tula Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...

artists, and they and Warlimpirrnga eventually gained fame internationally as the Tjapaltjarri Brothers. Although he normally paints using ''Tjapaltjarri'' as a

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

, Tjapaltjarri's

skin name Aboriginal Australian kinship comprises the systems of Aboriginal customary law governing social interaction relating to kinship in traditional Aboriginal cultures. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Aust ...

is ''Tjapangati''. His paintings depict stories from the Pintupi dreaming. They are mostly about places and events in the Tingari cycle (a cycle of myths about the ancestors of the Pintupi). His designs are inspired by those painted on the body during ceremonies. He uses acrylic paints on

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

, sticking to earthy colours (black, white and

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

s). He paints simple shapes with dotted lines, which is a style that his brothers also use. He has had paintings shown in many exhibitions around Australia, and also in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Germany, France and the United States. His larger paintings sell for at least A$6000 in Alice Springs and A$9500 in galleries in Melbourne and Sydney.

References

Other websites

Profile
at the Red Desert Gallery *
Tjapaltjarri Brothers: Walimpirrnga, Walala & Thomas Tjapaltjarri
', an exhibition at the Japingka Indigenous Fine Art Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Tjapaltjarri, Thomas Indigenous Australian artists Artists from Western Australia Living people Australian painters 1960s births Pintupi