Simon Tjakamarra
Pintupi people WA 1950-1990
Yitjurunya
Acrylic on linen
213 x 240 cm
BCEC Art Collection
Simon Tjakamarra was a Pintupi artist who helped establish new styles of painting during the early phases of the Papunya Tula movement. Born at Kulkurta in Western Desert country, he began painting in the late 1970s, as the artists began moving from small boards onto larger canvases. His works express Tingari Dreaming narratives, rendered through finely balanced circles and connecting lines, and are held in major public and private collections.
Yitjurunya (Yirtjurunya) is a claypan site in Pintupi country, associated with the Tingari cycle, one of the most important men’s ceremonial knowledge systems of the Western Desert. As with many Tingari paintings, this work features repeated concentric circles with connecting lines, indicating the many sites the Tingari men travelled to on their creative journeys.