Tjukurla Aboriginal Art

Tjukurla community is located in Western Australia near to the border with the Northern Territory, situated 810 kms from Alice Springs by road and 94 kms north of the Great Central Road. The community sits alongside a large salt lake, Lake Hopkins, with surrounding country dominated by sandhills, claypans and desert oak trees. The name Tjukurla itself refers to a round shaped rockhole.

Tjukurla was originally established when a bore was created to support a new outstation for the Docker River community. At this time an outstation was also being created at Kintore to assist Aboriginal people living at Papunya to move further west towards their traditional homelands. Eventually Tjukurla attracted people from Docker River, Warakurna and Warburton as well as from Kintore, and the community became permanently established in 1986.

The majority of people living at Tjukurla are Ngaanyatjarra speakers, and with the wide range of family networks in this desert country, many have close ties with adjacent communities including Kiwirrkurra, further north in Western Australia. Tjarlirli Art Centre was established at Tjukurla in 2006, and the community art reflects the strong cultural ties that exist with the Papunya style recognisable from the community artists at Kintore and Kiwirrkurra. Senior artists from Tjukurla include Nyarapayi Giles, Katjarra Butler and Esther Giles Nampitjinpa. With cultural traditions remaining strong in the region, the younger generation of artists are producing artworks of high quality and are carrying forward the heritage of their elders.