Linda Syddick Napaltjarri

Linda Syddick Napaltjarri was born at Lake Mackay, near the border between W.A and N.T, in 1937 (dec 2021). Her father was a Pitjantjatjara man, Rintje Tjungurrayi, her mother was a Pintupi woman, Wanala Nangala. At birth, she was given the names Tjunkiya (from mother), Wukula (from grandmother) and Napaltjarri (her kinship name). Until she walked to Haasts Bluff Lutheran Mission in 1945, she grew up surrounded by the traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the Pintupi people of the Gibson Desert.

On the cultural side, she witnessed the art of ‘sand painting’ whereby patterns etched in the desert sand was used to transmit spiritual messages from the ancient past. In 1972, when the Pintupi men started to paint on boards, they painted the same designs. When Linda started painting on canvas in 1987, she used these same designs, which were from Tingari Dreaming. She was tutored by her uncles, Uta Uta Tjangala and Nosepeg Tjuperula. Before he died in 1985, her step-father, Shorty Langkata Tjungurrayi had told Linda, “When I’m gone, you gotta keep it going”.

In 1988, Linda joined the literacy class at the Institute for Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs. All the ladies were artists, so it was school in the morning and painting in the afternoon. During the three years at I.A.D, Linda developed the style of painting for which she is known, from her own memories and experiences.