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Born  circa 1950

Died 2020

Region Western Desert

Language Pintupi

Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa was born around 1950 at Iliya, near present-day Kiwirrkura, in the Western Desert of Western Australia – the traditional homeland of the Pintupi people. He was the eldest son of the celebrated painter Naata Nungurrayi and her first husband, Pilamartitja Tjangala, who died of thirst in the desert approximately two years before the family had any contact with non-Aboriginal Australians.

As a young boy, Kenny spent his early years travelling nomadically with his extended family across the remote desert around Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). During a period of serious drought, the family was brought in 1963 to Papunya by government patrol officer Jeremy Long.

Kenny later moved to Balgo Hills on the northern edge of the Great Sandy Desert alongside a group of Pintupi people, before returning to Papunya and then transferring with his younger sibling Ronnie Tjampitjinpa to the Intinti outstation west of Kintore. In his final years, Kenny lived in Alice Springs while undergoing treatment through the renal program. He passed away in 2020.

ARTIST PRACTICE

Kenny Williams began his painting career joining Papunya Tula Artists and working on Country centred around Kiwirrkura and sites including Walawala – his principal homestead – and Yirrukurlu, his father’s Country south of the Pollock Hills.

His primary Dreaming subjects draw on the stories of the Kuniya (python) – particularly the narrative of two python ancestors who travelled from the east to Karrilwarra, a rockhole and soakage water site north-west of Kiwirrkura, before journeying south-west to Wiluna. He also painted the Tingari Cycle, the body of sacred ancestral knowledge central to Pintupi men’s ceremonial life, and Ngamanpura, a swamp west of Kintore associated with the black berry of the same name.

His style is instantly recognisable: meticulously executed fine zigzag lines rendered in subtle, earthy ochres, umbers, and muted earth tones on linen or canvas. Rather than relying on the classical dotting techniques popular in early Papunya art, Kenny’s signature approach employed hyper-controlled linear geometry – rhythmic, pulsing zigzags and fine linework that mirror the ancient carvings traditionally found on ceremonial shields, boomerangs, and tjuringa (sacred stone or wooden objects). The surface rewards close and sustained looking, carrying a meditative, almost hypnotic quality that bears the full authority of that sacred ceremonial tradition.

FAMILY & ARTISTIC LINEAGE

Kenny Williams came from one of the most distinguished artistic families in the history of Australian Aboriginal art. His mother, Naata Nungurrayi, is among the most highly collected Papunya Tula women painters, achieving major auction records in her own right. His younger sibling, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, is equally celebrated and has achieved some of the strongest results of any living Pintupi male artist. His uncle, George Ward Tjungurrayi, won the prestigious Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2004.

Together, this lineage represents one of the most exceptional creative dynasties in the history of Western Desert painting. This family pedigree significantly reinforces the cultural and artistic authority of Kenny’s work in the eyes of collectors and institutions alike.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Chairman, Papunya Tula Artists

Kenny served as Chairman of Papunya Tula Artists for several years, a position of considerable cultural and institutional authority within the cooperative that gave birth to the Western Desert painting movement.

2000  Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) — Overall Winner

Kenny Williams won the major prize at the 17th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2000 with Snake Tjukurrpa – a masterwork in synthetic polymer paint on linen that directly channelled his principal ancestral narratives. Coming just a year after he stepped down from his influential role as Chairman, the award cemented his reputation firmly among the top tier of contemporary Australian artists. The prize-winning Snake Tjukurrpa was acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) upon award, where it remains in the permanent collection.

INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS

• Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin Including Snake Tjukurrpa – the 2000 Telstra NATSIAA prize-winning work.
• Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney
• National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne Including Designs Associated with the Soakage Water Site of Pukaratja and Kuniya Dreaming at Karrilwarra.

SELECTED EXHIBITION HISTORY

• Contemporary Aboriginal Art Zamek Culture Centre, Poznań, Poland, 2007.
• Aboriginal Vision in Contemporary Australian Art Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, USA, 2005.
• The Desert Mob Art Show Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, 2005.
• Celebrating 20 Years: Telstra NATSIAA Travelling exhibition, 2004–2005 — National Archives of Australia, Canberra; RMIT University, Melbourne; Wollongong City Gallery; Cairns Regional Gallery.
• Talking About Abstraction UNSW College of Fine Arts, Sydney, 2004.
• Papunya Tula Artists Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 2004 and 2006.
• Pintupi Group Exhibitions Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, 2005 and 2007.
• Numerous group exhibitions Australia and internationally, from 1994 onwards..