Charlie Tjapangati
Pintupi people WA c.1948
Pilalanga
Acrylic on linen
213.5 x 350.5 cm
BCEC Art Collection
Charlie Tjapangati was born at Palinpalintjanya, near Jupiter Well in the Western Desert. His family lived a traditional lifestyle until 1964, when they moved into Papunya. After watching the senior artists begin the painting movement, Tjapangati joined in the late 1970s and became well known for works linked to the Tingari Ancestors.
Pilalanga is a site within Pintupi Country, connected to the journeys of the Tingari Ancestors across the Western Desert. Due to its secret-sacred information, restricted to Pintupi initiates, Pilalanga is represented through abstract geometry and movement, referring to ceremonial activity and pathways across Country. Here, rather than the usual concentric circles of classic Tingari painting, Tjapangati uses forms combining these circles with ‘U’-shaped human forms, identifying the Tingari Ancestors who gathered at these important sites.