Year Of Birth

1927

Year Of Death

2015

Biography

Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri is from the Anmatyerre people in Central Australia. He was one of the original stockmen and founders of the Papunya Tula community in the Central Desert. Billy was instrumental in leading the way for contemporary Aboriginal art in the region and is a founder of the contemporary art movement in 1971. He is considered one of the most prolific and important artists of his time. Using the existing system of desert culture symbols to depict his dreaming and deep affinity with the land, Billy’s work reflects a fundamental spirituality. His paintings are charged with authority and religious knowledge portrayed through the use of powerful and heroic dreaming symbols. Billy's work has been seen around the world in several travelling exhibitions, as well as being featured in many galleries and collections through out Australia. In 1988 he was involved with the opening and exhibited in New York for the "Dreamings: Art of Aboriginal Australia'. This exhibition travelled to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the 'All Black Festival' in South Africa. In recent years his work has been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, the New South Wales Art Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia, University of WA Anthropology Museum.