Wanatjura Bell was born at Tjutjuranyara rockhole and has family in Warakurna and Docker River. Wanatjura has also painted with Warakurna artists, carves purnu for Maruku and weaves for Tjanpi weavers.

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Pamela is an artist from Docker River, where she lives with her mother. Pamela paints tjukurrpa from her grandmother's country south of Docker River.

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Mrs N. Giles (dec.) was born in the Gibson Desert at an important cultural site called Karku. It is this site and the associated tjukurpa that inspired her powerful and unique paintings.

She spent her youth living the traditional nomadic life of her people until her family were moved from their land to settle in missions in the 1960's.

Her knowledge of the inma (ceremonies) and tjukurrpa associated with the country here is extensive.

Nyarapayi settled in Tjukurla when the community was first established in the 1980s. She worked with purnu (wood carving) and enjoyed hunting in the bush right up until her passing.

She learned to make baskets woven from spinifex in the 1980's and has a large basket on permanent exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Her works explore her country and associated Tjukurrpa in an exquisite and unique expression of colour and movement.

Nyarapayi has gained recognition as a key artist amongst her peers in the Contemporary Indigenous Art movement. Her works are collected by collectors and institutions in Australia and internationally.

Courtesy of Tjarlirli and Kaltukatjara Art

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Katjarra Butler was born in the bush c.1946 at a place called Kuun. When Katjarra’s mother was pregnant with her, a python (Kuniya) appeared in front of her. Katjarra’s mother killed the snake, and Kuniya became Katjarra’s totem animal. Katjarra lived with her family in the bush as a child and teenager. As a young woman, she married Anatjari Tjakamarra, and gave birth to her daughter Sally Tjimpuna Butler at the site of Wingarntjirri. The family lived a traditional nomadic lifestyle on their homelands northwest of Tjukurla, living off bush food and natural water sources. In the 1960s, Katjarra and her family were picked up near Kintore and taken to Papunya during a drought which forced many Western Desert peoples into contact with white settlers for the first time. For many years, Katjarra lived at Papunya, later moving to the Docker River settlement and then settling in Tjukurla after its establishment as part of the homelands movement of the 1980s. Katjarra began painting around 2001 and, along with other women in the community, helped to establish Tjarlirli Art in Tjukurla in 2006. Due to her seniority and wealth of knowledge, Katjarra is culturally responsible for many sites and stories. The works in this exhibition are demonstrative of this; Katjarra has depicted sites scattered all across her vast homelands, spanning hundreds of kilometres on the edge of the Gibson Desert. Katjarra’s work is both narratively and visually powerful, instantly recognisable through her signature gestural brushwork and powerful colour selection. She uses large round brushes to apply broad swathes of paint, rhythmically marking out geographical features - waterholes, mountains, sandhills and vast grasslands - with her entire body weight propelling the brush. Katjarra’s spirit is embodied in the power of her brushstrokes, as the broad fields of colour engulf the spectator and offer a momentary glimpse of Katjarra’s knowledge of the power and enormity of her Tjukurrpa.

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Bob Gibson Tjungurrayi was born at Papunya in 1974, before moving with his family to the small community of Tjukurla during the outstation movement of the 1980s. This was a time when many Ngaanyatjarra people moved from government outposts near to Alice Springs back into the Western Desert to be closer to their ancestral homelands. Bob's mother, Mary Gibson, is also a leading Tjarlirli artist whose Country is at Kulkurta, deep in the Western Desert, while his father’s country was near Patjarr on the edge of the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve.

Bob began painting with Tjarlirli Art in 2007, and quickly found a unique rhythm and approach to mark-making; his style is characterised by bold colours and an inimitable freedom of movement, expressing ancient stories with contemporary flair. Bob is a vibrant character who is well loved within his community and provides support to many family members. He is a keen Sydney Swans supporter and loves listening to all music, especially the local bush bands.

Looking at a Bob Gibson painting feels a little like spending time with the artist himself. Bob’s bold, playful presence in the studio is contagious; each canvas brings wild shapes and expressive lines met with decisive mark-making and confident realisation of country. His highly unique representations of Tjukurrpa (Dreaming stories) are an intersection of traditional storytelling and a spirited contemporary artistic practice. Bob's work is significant for the way it speaks to the complex layers and tensions between cultural, historical and modern influences, and challenges characterisations of what 'real' Aboriginal art looks like.

Courtesy of Tjarlirli and Kaltukatjara Art

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