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photo by Roy Ryan (copyright). Michael Tjakamarra Nelson
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Born at Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), west of Yuendumu, c 1949, Michael grew up in the bush 'without clothes', first seeing white men at Mt Doreen Station.
He remembers hiding in the bush in fear. Michael lived at Haasts Bluff for a time with the same family group as Long Jack Phillipus. Later his parents took him to Yuendumu for European education at the mission school. He left at thirteen, after his initiation, and worked buffalo shooting in 1962 on the East and South Alligator Rivers, driving trucks, droving cattle and in the army, before coming back to Yuendumu and then to Papunya to settle and marry his current wife, Marjorie.
He came to Papunya in 1976, observing the work of the older artists for years before beginning to paint regularly for himself in 1983. His parents were both Warlpiri and his father was an important 'Medicine Man' in the Yuendumu community.
Michael paints Possum, Snake, Two Kangaroos, flying Ant Yam and other Dreamings for the area around Pikilyi.
In 1984 he won the National Aboriginal Art Award; in 1986 he exhibited in the Biennale of Sydney and was included in 'The State of the Art', a British art documentary. In 1987, a painting by Michael (8.2 m) was installed in the foyer of the Sydney Opera House. In 1988 he met the Queen at the opening of Parliament as the designer of buliding's mosaic forecourt.
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| Possum & kangaroo | |
| Linen 1350*1350 mm | |
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This painting depicts designs associated with the Kangaroo and Possum whose tracks can be plainly seen. They are important mythological symbols and stories which were inherited from his father.
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| Possum & kangaroo | |
| Linen 1350*1350 mm | |
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This painting depicts designs associated with the Possum ancestors whose tracks can be plainly seen in the two white panels, while the middle panel shows thr Kangaroo ancestors tracks . They are important mythological symbols and stories which were inherited from his fath
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| Rain Dreaming | |
| Linen 1350*1350 mm | |
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This painting depicts designs associated with water rain and lightning. The lightning represented by the wavy lines with rain falling from clouds being the straight lines. This and other important mythological symbols and stories were inherited from his father
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| painted 1996 | |
| Linen 1240*880mm | |
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This painting depicts designs associated with the Rainbow Serpent, Kangaroo, Goanna, Possum, Water Rain, lightning and Emu. All are important mythological symbols and stories which were inherited from his father. The serpent represent the protectors of many sacred sites within Michael’s country and is responsible for their safety. This area relate to sacred initiation sites where the Dreaming stories are enacted and told during these ceremonies.
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