Timmy Payungka Tjapangati

Timmy Payungka Tjapangati emerged as one of the early Pintupi painters at Papunya in 1971, bringing with him the deep cultural knowledge of a life spent in his ancestral homelands west of Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). His family left the Gibson Desert only when severe drought made traditional living untenable, eventually travelling to Ikuntji before reconnecting with government patrols and settling at Papunya. While employed on the community farm, Tjapangati joined the first wave of men experimenting with acrylic painting, initiating a long, though at times intermittent artistic career that later included extended periods among relatives at Balgo.

Instrumental in the Pintupi return to Kiwirrkura in the 1980s, he also played a pivotal custodial role for a group of desert relatives who had lived in isolation for decades. His art reflects this authority, early figurative works gave way to increasingly complex, unconventional compositions, culminating in late paintings that assert ceremonial depth through dense patterning, restricted palettes, and powerful geometric structuring.

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Timmy Payungka Tjapangati

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