Born at Piltati rockhole in the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, Tiger Palpatja was a senior Pitjantjatjara man, ngangkari- a traditional healer, and a rainmaker.

In 2004, at over 80 years old, Palpatja picked up a brush for the first time—and in just eight years, he produced some of Australia’s most powerful contemporary paintings. Palpatja created his work during a pivotal time when Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara artists were gaining recognition in the 2000s.

His work was quickly embraced by Australia’s leading institutions, where he became a prominent voice in the developing remote South Australian movement, bringing fresh perspectives to Indigenous Australian and contemporary art conversations.

This exhibition, at D’Lan contemporary New York, is remarkable for its rarity: the collection has remained in the Tjungu Palya art centre archives since Palpatja’s passing in 2012, and has only recently been rediscovered. Now, for the first time, this significant body of paintings is presented, offering an unprecedented opportunity to engage with and acquire works from a compelling chapter of Palpatja’s late practice.

Video by @gd.content