John Tjakamarra, 1974 (printed 2000)

John Tjakamarra (c. 1937-1992), a Pintupi man born north of Kiwijurra, south of Kintore, made the long walk into Papunya settlement with his family in the early 1960s. The Papunya Tula painting movement, usually dated to the arrival of administrator Geoffrey Bardon in the early 1970s, saw Anmatyere, Luritja, Arrernte, Warlpiri and Pitjantjajara residents commit stories traditionally expressed in the soil or on the body to permanent, portable and marketable media: paint and boards. John Tjakamarra was one of the early painters at the settlement, whose work was brought together in Tjungunutja, a major exhibition at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 2017-2018. Late in life John Tjakamarra returned to Tjukurla, near his own Country. Jon Rhodes met him at Yayayi Bore in 1974, when Rhodes first started taking photographs on the theme of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal relationship to land. Since then Rhodes has told photographic stories of life in many Aboriginal communities. Photographs from his exhibition Cage of Ghosts, documenting attempts to preserve and protect important Aboriginal cultural sites in south-eastern Australia, have recently been published in his book of the same name.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008
© Jon Rhodes