Patrick Tjungurrayi

Artist Nationality

Australian

Artist Bio

Patrick Tjungurrayi (c.1935 - 2017) was born in Yalangerri near

Jupiter Well in Western Australia. He is a Pintupi and Kukatja

speaker, the brother of the late Brandy Tjungurrayi and Elizabeth

Nyumi, both major artists from the Balgo community.


Patrick Tjngurrayi first painted in about 1986 for Warlayirti Artists

in Balgo. In the early 1990s he moved to Kiwirrkurra and began

painting regularly for Papunya Tula Artists from 1993 onwards.


His patterns and stories associated with the Western desert

Pintupi artists are enhanced by the thick application of paint

more associated with the Balgo artists. Tjungurrayi’s paintings

relate to the events of the Tingari sites from which he has

inherited his dreaming stories and the travels of the ancestors.

He often incorporates the ceremonial design of Wanawarra

(rainbow snake).


Artist Gallery