Boxing and fighting

$1,270.00

Dennis Nelson Tjakamarra is the son of Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, one of the founders of the desert painting movement, and his second wife Gladys (Yawitji) Napanangka, who was among the first group of women at Papunya to paint for Papunya Tula Artists. Dennis remembers going “after school or smoko time” to watch the painters at work. He says his father taught him to paint: “Use brush – cut ‘im – he learn me. When I’m a little boy he sat me down in the gallery”.

During the 1980s, Dennis illustrated a number of Pintupi-Luritja educational resources for the newly opened bilingual Papunya School. In early 2021, Papunya Tjupi ran a workshop where artists viewed and responded to the educational material they had created decades ago. Ever since the workshop, Dennis has been drawing again and his drawings are intricate and unique. In August 2023, Dennis’ drawings were turned into animation and exhibited as part of the Tjupi men’s group show titled ‘Kuntarringanyi Wankantjaku (Too Shy to Speak)’ at Coconut Studios, Darwin.