Bio
Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra (Australian Aboriginal 1935-2020)
Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra was born in Kalimpinpa the Northern Territory Australia in 1932 and is one of the founding members of the Papunya Tula Artists (the region of Kalimpinpa is considered as an important Rain Dreaming site). Long Jack grew up in the bush country west of Pilininyanu until his teenage years when his family arrived at Haasts Bluff where he found work as a stockman and labourer. He also was know as a good hunter and axeman. He stayed in the area till 1959.
During the early 1970s, Long Jack worked as a Councillor at Papunya, he was known for being knowledgeable about tribal law and hunting. (Long Jack has been described by Geoffrey and James Bardon as ‘representing the goodness and givingness always within the Aboriginal people’)
During that period he was involved in the Papunya painting movement and was a founding member of the Papunya Tula Artists. When Papunya was established Long Jack, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa and Billy Stockman offered their help in painting some of the smaller murals around Papunya School. The “Honey Ant Dreaming” mural on the school wall was the first ever project done by Aboriginal men on a public building in Papunya.
In 1984 Long Jack Became a Lutheran Pastor.
Long Jack’s early paintings prompted and ushered a expansion of recognition to the wider art world of aboriginal art and the Honey Ant Dreaming story. As a consequence of these early works the Aboriginal acrylic art movement was founded.
Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra exquisite artworks represent, preserves and pays respect to his cultural ancestral traditions, He is considered to one of Australia’s most knowledgably and leading Aboriginal Artists, He is a devout and introspective person, creating compelling traditional Aboriginal images of remarkable spiritual intensity and symbolic references to the sanctity of his land, his people and his culture, his artworks have a unique location with tradition within the contemporary art world, Long Jack paints the Water, Wallaby, Kingfisher, Hare, Dingo and other Dreamings in the Mt Singleton area.
Long Jack died in late August 2020 surrounded by his family.
