Remembering Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri
Artists
Remembering Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri opens a window into Walala’s extraordinary artistic career from 1999-2026. Belonging to the ‘Pintupi Nine,’ as dubbed by international news outlets, Walala and his family emerged in 1984 from their nomadic lifestyle in Gibson Desert, where they had made no contact with non-Aboriginal people, to join relatives in the Pintupi community of Kiwirrkurra near the WA/NT border.
Kumantjayi began painting Tingari designs (relating to men’s ceremonial ground and body painting) in the recognisable Pintupi style of detailed dots and circles. However, Walala’s distinctive geometric Tingari designs blossomed in the 1990s working with Gallery Gondwana (Alice Springs) and Dr George Tjapaltjarri. Soon after he met Michael Eather, (FireWorks Gallery) and was ushered into experimental artistic territory and a new era of abstraction and materiality.
Through workshops in both Alice Springs and the FireWorks Gallery Campfire Group Brisbane studio, Walala experimented with pure linear compositions and no dotting. Drawing with ink on paper isolated the stark lines and composition of the Tingari style. These designs would be transposed into significant sculptural forms, imbuing the Tingari designs with steadfast physicality and dimension; bridging cultural memory with the contemporary.
In a recent essay, Dr Marie Geissler proposes that “This collection possesses a powerful ambiguity. Their positive and negative spaces are as important as their physical mass…. The transformation is significant because it does not simply turn a painting into an object. It changes the fundamental experience of Walala’s visual language.”
In August 2026 Walala suffered a stroke and passed away In Alice Springs. In September, Walala and Michael’s collaborative work, We are Still Creating Ourselves II, was announced winner of the Sunshine Coast National Art Prize.
Michael Eather recently shared, “I feel so very privileged to have known and worked alongside (Walala) for so many years. Sharing a national art prize with him so soon after his passing feels like the earth just winked at us a little bit. Old mate always had a cheeky laugh and I’m sure he’s smiling now…We enjoyed many workshops together painting over maps and different textured backgrounds …he was always so excited to be trying some new colours and patterns, and keeping his ancient stories alive and vital in new frameworks. Our work together was always casual and spontaneous”.
Remembering Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri provides audiences the opportunity to witness this very artistic transformation that has solidified Walala’s legacy on both a national and international stage.
Kumanjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri & Michael Eather We are still creating ourselves II 2026 acrylic & archival ink on canvas 99x150cm FW22984
