Dr George Tjapaltjarri: Ngangkari - Clever Man

Dr George Tjapaltjarri (c1930- 2017) was born in country south west of Jupiter Well in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia. He is one of Australia’s most distinguished Aboriginal artists, and was one of the elders right at the beginning when a group of elders paintned the boards at Papunya in the early 1970s.

His family language group was Pintupi/Luritja. The family first made contact with white settlements when they walked out from the desert in 1964.

Dr George was a traditional Aboriginal medicine man, a Ngangkari or Clever Man, and has worked with Kintore and Tjukurla medical clinics. His paintings reflect Tingari stories from his traditional country at Karrinwara, west of Kintore and Kilingya west of Jupiter Well. The artworks by Dr George possess a wonderful rawness and boldness, conveying his strong continuous association with traditional country and its ceremonies and body painting rituals. His subjects are the Tingari Cycle and Snake Dreaming.

Read more:

• George Ward Tjapaltjarri Profile

Images of Dr George courtesy of Gallery Gondwana