Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi

Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi was a senior Pintupi lawman whose authority and presence permeated both his life and his art. Born at Walukuritji, south of Lake MacDonald, he spent his early years moving through the desert before travelling to Haasts Bluff in the late 1940s and later settling at Papunya. Despite extended contact with mission life, he remained firmly rooted in Pintupi law and worldview, known for his strength as a ngangkari and for his unshakeable advocacy for his community during turbulent years of displacement. He began painting in the early 1970s, becoming one of the last to join the founding group of Papunya painters. His early works are defined by their quiet intensity, distilled compositions that hold ceremonial rhythm and narrative in tightly charged forms. Over time, his paintings grew increasingly complex, weaving multiple Dreaming narratives into expansive, looping structures. Tjungurrayi eventually returned closer to his homelands at Walungurru, where he continued painting and teaching younger artists, leaving a legacy of rare depth and authority within the Western Desert movement.

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Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi

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