A Senior Kukatja speaking Law Man from the grassy shrub, desert sand-lands of the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, Pukurny Mick Gill Tjamamarra was one of the first artists to paint
in introduced, colourful, Western acrylic pigments in the area.
Born Circa. 1920, he died in 2002 having witnessed extraordinary changes to his Traditional life following the arrival of non Indigenous people (Kartiya).
A quiet man with a calm, powerful countenance, his broad smile was always welcoming to Palya Art Tour visitors coming to learn about his Culture and Country.
Married to Susie Bootja Napaltjarri, they both painted at the Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) community Art Centre, Warlayirti Artists, in Western Australia from it’s early beginnings.
Tjakamarra was one of a serious group of senior Law Men who would sit separately from the women under the shade of the Art Centre’s corrugated iron at the ‘Old Sister’s Laundry’, long
before the new Art Centre, and then Cultural Centre, was built. Bowing his head over his work with intensity, exchanging words with his peers, his concentration was to “paint the story right”.
Text: Helen Read
Warlayirti Artists state: “His paintings frequently show soak holes, rockholes and claypans associated with the area. These are believed to have been formed during the Tjukurrpa or
Dreamtime and hold significance that is explained in Men’s Ceremonies”.