Yanatjarri Tjampitjinpa

Tingarri at Yunarla

1993

In the Tjukurrpa, a group of ancestral men known as the Tingarri ancestors camped at a place called Yunarla before continuing their journey to Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). While they camped here, they gathered the edible roots of the bush banana or silky pear (marsdenia australis), which is also known as yunarla.

Language Group: Pintupi
Date: 1927–1999

Yanatjarri was born in remote desert country in Western Australia, where he lived until he and his three wives and their children came to Papunya in 1964. In the early 1970s he spent time at other government settlements before returning to Papunya in the mid-1970s to paint for Papunya Tula Artists. While in Wirrimanu (Balgo) visiting relatives, Yanatjarri instructed people about painting with canvas and acrylics, including his younger brother, Dini Campbell Tjampitjinpa, who later moved to Walungurru (Kintore) and began painting for Papunya Tula Artists. Under Yanatjarri's tuition, his son Ray James Tjangala would become an acclaimed second-generation painter at Kiwirrkurra. Yanatjarri was included in the landmark exhibition Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia at the Asia Society Galleries in New York in 1988.

Biographical information sourced from Vivien Johnson, Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists. Alice Springs: IAD Press, 2008.

YANATJARRI TJAMPITJINPA, Tingarri at Yunarla, 1993

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas.
47 3/4 × 35 3/8 in. (121 × 90 cm).
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection.
Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997.
1991.0036.032.

Yanatjarri Tjampitjinpa painting alongside Freddy West Tjakamarra, 1981.

Photo by Fred Myers.

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