Walala Tjapaltjarri / Tingari (WT058)

Walala was born c. 1965 at Marua, east of Kiwirrkura in the Gibson Desert – he is of the Pintupi Tribe of the Central/Western Desert. Walala is part of the famous “Lost Tribe” of 1984, when he and eight of his Pintupi people walked out of the bush to encounter the white man for the first time. This incredible event made headlines around the world. Prior to this time, the tribe had lived a traditional life of hunter/food-gatherers.

Walala and his brothers, in particular Warlimpirrnga and Thomas, have achieved International acclaim as artists, painting the Tingari Cycle, the Dreaming of his ancestors. These Dreamtime Ancestors are said to have travelled through their land creating certain sites and teaching the law. Walala paints images of these travels – the rockholes, sandhills, landform, water soakages and ceremonial sites including Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu, in the Gibson Desert.

Walala has a highly personalised style, bold and strongly graphic. His use of colour is clever and his depictions of the Tingari cycle classically abstract in form.

Walala first started exhibiting his work in 1997 (in the 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin) and he has been involved with a number of group exhibitions and solo shows since. His paintings are represented in private and public collections worldwide.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
• Art Gallery of New South Wales
• Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
• Gantner Myer Aboriginal Art Collection
• The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.
• Kaplan & Levi Collection, Seattle, USA
• AMP Investments Australia, Sydney
• Axiom Funds Management, Sydney
• CNC International Corporation, Sydney
• Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Perth.
• El Paso Energy International Co, Houston, Texas
• Epic Energy Australia, Brisbane
• Hastings Funds Management, Melbourne

SELECTED SOLO & GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
• Central Desert Showcase, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2022
• Desert Colours 2022, Honey Ant Gallery, Sydney

2021
• 50 Years of Papunya Tula Artists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2020
• Central Focus, Art Mob, Hobart

2019
• Walala Tjapaltjarri Self-portrait, Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland
• An Exhibition on TJAPALTJARRI Brothers from the Indigenous Lost Tribe, Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery, Melbourne
• Defining Tradition | the colourists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• Warlimpirrnga, Walala and Thomas Tjaplajarri Exhibitions, Mitchell Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane
• Defining Tradition: the first wave & its disciples, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• Sculpture Projects, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
• Pintupi Artists of the Western Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

2018
• Three Brothers, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2010
• Lost Tribe, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2005
• Smoke: Campfire Group and other commissioned works, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane

2004
• Papunya: Painters of the Western Desert, Addison Galleries, NSW
• Peintres Pintupi, Galerie DAD, Mantes-la-Jolie, France

2001
• Tingari Cycle – Walala Tjapaltjarri, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
• The Art of Place Exhibition, Australian Heritage Commission, National Tour

2000
• Lines, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
• My Country – Journeys of our Ancestorsm, Ancient Earth Indigenous Art, Cairns
• Walala Tjapatjarri and Dr George Tjapaltjarri, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney
• Landmarks Exhibition, Dar Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
• Fifth National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra
• Songlines: Walala Tjapaltjarri & Dorothy Napangardi, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

1999
• Tingari Cycle – Walala Tjapaltjarri, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
• Spirit Country, The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, USA
• Painting the Desert, Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the French Embassy, Canberra
• Recent Works by Walala Tjapaltjarri and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

1998
• Tingari – Men’s Business, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
• Tingari – My Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
• Walala Tjapaltjarri Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
• Tingari Cycle, an exhibition of works by Walala Tjapaltjarri, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• 2000 17th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist
• 1999 16th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist
• 1998 15th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist
• 1997 14th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist

BIBLIOGRAPHY
• ‘Nangara – The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition’ from the Ebes Collection, The Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1996
• ‘Spirit Country’ The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, U.S.A., 1999
• ‘Painting the Desert’ Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the French Embassy, 1999, Maud Girard-Geslan and Luc Chailleu
• ‘Beyond the Fatal Shore ‘ Producer, Robert Hughes for Oxford TV, BBC & ABC, 2000

During the Tjukurrpa (Creation Era) Tingari ancestor beings gathered at a series of sites for Malliera (Initiation) Ceremonies. They travelled vast stretches of the country, performing rituals at specific sites that in turn created the diverse natural features of the environment (depicted here as the rectangles – the earth and circle – waterholes). The Tingari men were accompanied by novices and usually followed by Tingari Women. The creation stories and rituals form the song cycles and ceremonies of today, used in part, for the teachings of the post initiatory youths, whilst also providing explanations for contemporary customs.