Bronze Sculpture for Sale
Australia
• 1947
Biography
Tjunkaya Tapaya is an Australian Aboriginal artist of the Pitjantjatjara people, born in 1947 and living in the desert community of Pukatja in South Australia. She grew up at the Ernabella (Pukatja) Mission where she began working in the craft room making weavings, before excelling in batik. She has become one of the most notable artists in the APY Aboriginal Lands in South Australia, whose work is included in numerous public collections. Her work was featured on the cover of curator Judith Ryan's book “Across the Desert: Aboriginal Batik from Central Australia". Tjunkaya also works in ceramics, tjanpi (native grasses), punu (wood), printmaking, spinning, and mukata (hat) making.
Since 2015, Tjunkaya has chosen to focus on painting, ceramics, and Tjanpi sculpture. This focus has allowed her to become one of the most sought-after female artists in APY lands and increasingly recognized in these mediums.
Tjunkaya has served on the board and vice-chair of the Ernabella Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, and led the Nintintjaku Project, an intergenerational teaching project working with the Ernabella Anangu School and the Ernabella NPY Youth Team. Tjunkaya is also a prolific writer in Pitjantjatjara. In 2018, Tjunkaya's work as a representative of her people, artist, and writer was recognized and she received the Gladys Elphick Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, Tjunkaya was awarded the Order of Australia, General Division.
Tjunkaya's works are held in major Australian and international public collections, such as the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), the National Museum of Australia (Canberra), the Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane), the Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide), Artbank (Sydney), the Museum of Ethnology in Osaka (Japan) and the National Museum of Scotland (UK).
Nationality
Themes
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