Walala Tjapaltjarri

Born:                 	c1960
Region:             	Western Desert
Community Centre:   	Kintore
Outstation or Country:	Kiwirrkuru, West of Lake Mackay
Language Bloc:      	Western Desert
Language:           	Pintupi
Social Affiliations:	Tjapaltjarri subsection


Subjects: 
He paints parts of the Tingari Cycle associated with his sacred sites - including 
Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu, which are important rockholes, 
sandhills, sacred mountains and water soakages within the Gibson Desert. 


Collections: 
AMP Investments Australia, Sydney, N.S.W. 
Axiom Funds Management, Sydney, N.S.W. 
Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Perth, W.A. 
El Paso Energy International Co, Houston, Texas 
Epic Energy Australia, Brisbane, QLD. 
Flinders University, Adelaide, S.A. 
Gantner Myer Aboriginal Art Collection CNC International Corporation, Sydney, N.S.W. 
Hastings Funds Management, Melbourne, VIC. 
Kaplan & Levi Collection, Seattle, U.S.A. 
New South Wales Art Gallery, Sydney, N.S.W. 
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A. 


Exhibitions: Individual Exhibitions: 
1998 - Tingari - Men's Business, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney, NSW; Walala 
Tjapaltjarri Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC; 
Tingari Cycle an exhibition of works by Walala Tjapaltjarri, Fire-Works 
Gallery, Brisbane, QLD. 


Group Exhibitions: 
2005 - Smoke: Campfire Group and other commissioned works, Fire-Works 
Gallery, Brisbane. 
2004 - Papunya: Painters of the Western Desert, Addison Galleries, NSW; 
Peintres Pintupi, Galerie DAD, Mantes-la-Jolie, France. 
2000-01 - The Art of Place Exhibition, Australian Heritage Commission, 
National Tour 2000 - Walala Tjapatjarri and Dr George Tjapaltjarri, Cooee Aboriginal 
Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW; Songlines: Walala Tjapaltjarri & Dorothy Napangardi, Rebecca 
Hossack Gallery, London, England; My Country - Journeys of our Ancestors Ancient Earth 
Indigenous Art, Cairns, QLD; Lines, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD; Landmarks Exhibition, 
Dar Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Queensland; Fifth National Indigenous Heritage Art 
Award, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra; 17th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, N.T; 
Melbourne ArtFair 2000', Melbourne, Australia. 
1999 - Tingari Cycle, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD; Spirit Country 
The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, U.S.A; Recent Works by 
Walala Tjapaltjarri and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London; Painting 
the Desert Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the French Embassy. Canberra, A.C.T; 
16th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of 
the Northern Territory, Darwin, N.T. 
1998 - Tingari-My Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, W.A; 15th National 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern 
Territory, Darwin, N.T. 
1997 - 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum 
and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, N.T. 


Bibliography: 
Nangara - The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, 
The Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1996. 

Painting the Desert Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the French Embassy, 
1999, Maud Girard-Geslan and Luc Chailleu. 

Spirit Country The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, 
U.S.A., 1999, Jennifer Isaacs. 


Details:	
Walala was born in the early 1960's at Marua to the east of Kiwirrkurra in the 
Gibson Desert.

In late 1984, Walala and eight other relatives of the Pintupi Tribe walked out 
of the desert in Western Australia and made contact for the first time with 
European society. Described as 'The Lost Tribe', he and his family created 
international headlines. Until this time Walala and his family lived the 
traditional and nomadic life of a hunter-gatherer society. Their intimate 
knowledge of the land, its flora and fauna and waterholes allowed them to 
survive, as their ancestors had for thousands of years. It is this sacred 
landscape with its significant sites that Walala so strikingly describes 
in his paintings.

Walala Tjapaltjarri was first introduced to painting by his brother Warlimpirrnga, 
also a painter of international acclaim. Walala's first paintings were in the 
classical Tingari style, a series of sacred and secret mythological songs which 
is associated with his Dreaming sites . In 1996 he developed his own style of 
work. He began abstracting the classical Pintupi designs, creating a highly 
graphic language to speak of his country and ceremonial sites. The rectangles 
so prominent in his paintings form both a physical and spiritual map.

His style is strongly gestural and boldly graphic, one that is generally 
highlighted by a series of rectangles set against a monochrome background. 
He paints the Tingari Cycle a series of sacred and secret mythological song 
cycles which are associated with the artist's many dreaming sites - they 
are Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu, to name a few. These 
Dreamings are the locations of significant rockholes, sandhills, sacred 
mountains and water soakages in the Gibson Desert.

In the recent years Walala has been painting, he has gained worldwide recognition, 
participating in several national and international solo and group exhibitions. 
His paintings are represented in private and public collections in Australia, 
Europe and the U.S.A.



Walala with his wife and niece


This is certainly a great start for a artist with a brilliant career and it can only 
improve over the years with many Aboriginal and contemporary collectors now looking 
at or already purchasing his works. 

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