Patrick Tjungurrayi

Patrick Olodoodi Tjungurrayi was a distinguished Kukatja–Manyjilyjarra artist and senior lawman whose life traced the vast cultural and geographic heart of the western desert. Born near Yalangerri, east of the Canning Stock Route, he spent his early years walking Country with his brother Brandy, moving between important water sources and ancestral sites before eventually travelling north toward Balgo in the late 1950s. Skilled in both cultural and practical labour, he helped construct the stone buildings of the new Balgo mission, where he later married Miriam Olodoodi.

Tjungurrayi emerged as a painter in the early 1980s, developing a bold visual language rooted in ceremonial authority and a deep custodial understanding of the desert. His work gained national recognition, including the inaugural Western Australian Indigenous Art Award (2008), one of the country’s most significant prizes. Today his paintings are held in major public collections, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and the South Australian Museum, affirming his enduring legacy as one of Australia’s most influential desert artists.

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Patrick Tjungurrayi

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