Artist: Linda Syddick Tjungkiya Wukula

Size: 1220mm x 1830mm

Medium: Acrylic on Linen

Area: Alice Springs - NT, Tarkee - SA

Language: Pintupi/Pitjantjatjara

Linda Syddick is a Pintupi woman who was born at Lake MacKay in the Gibson Desert, WA, in 1937. Linda was raised in the traditional nomadic fashion until the age of eight or nine, when her family walked out of the desert and decided to settle at the Lutheran Mission at Haasts Bluff, NT.

Linda's paintings are inspired by both her traditional nomadic life in the desert and the ‘Dreamings’ of her father and step-father. Linda's father was Rintje Tjungurrayi who was he killed at a revenge spearing party in accordance with customary Law when Linda was about eighteen months old. Linda was subsequently brought up by her stepfather, artist Lankata Shorty Tjungurrayi. Prior to Lankata’s passing in 1985, he instructed Linda to carry on his work and paint his ‘Dreamings’. To follow his wishes Linda was taught the art of painting by her two Uncles Uta Uta Tjangala and Nosepeg Tjupurrula in 1986. Linda often paints the ‘Dreaming’ story of the Tingari and the Emu Men. The Emu Men were ancestral beings who roamed the landscape during the Dreamtime or Creation Period. The Emu was the totem of her father, Rintje Tjungurrayi and step father, Langkata Shorty Tjungurrayi. The Tingari were ancestral spirit beings, who went on very long journeys, creating much of the desert landscape in Central Australia, and instructing the people about law and custom. Linda paints her country, mostly around Lake MacKay, which has been central to the cultural and spiritual life of the Pintupi people for thousands of years. People used to camp around its shores during their seasonal journeys and gather there for ceremonies. Lake MacKay was the birth place of Linda and she travelled this land for most of her early childhood. The area is a large dry salt lake which straddles the WA/NT border, north-west of Kintore. Occasionally this area fills with water and becomes blue, 'like sea water'. When this occurs birds and animals flock to the area. Linda incorporates many perspectives and stories into a single painting. The land and country are always portrayed in an aerial perspective, the way of traditional Pintupi sand paintings, but the figures are painted straight on, like they would appear if painted on a cave wall. The spirits that Linda paints are very important and are based on the spirits that are depicted in the rock art at Tjindara, a place deep into WA from Lake MacKay which is often visited by Pintupi people. These rock paintings are reputed to be more than fifteen thousand years old.

Awards: Joint runner-up, National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, 1995 Selected Exhibitions 1990 – Santa Fe, USA 1992, 1995 - Arluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs 1993 – Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney 1994 – 11th NATSIAA Award 1997 – Tandanya, Adelaide 1998 – Adelaide Biannual of Australian Art, Adelaide 1999 – Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA 2001 – State Library of NSW, Sydney

Selected Collections: National Gallery of Australia - Canberra, Art Gallery of South Australia, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory -Darwin, Art Gallery of NSW - Sydney, Araluen Arts Centre - Alice Springs, Artbank Auckland City Art Gallery - New Zealand, Wollongong City Gallery, Berndt Museum of Anthropology - Perth,

Telstra Bibliography: Kreczmanski & Birnberg, ‘Aboriginal Artists Dictionary of Biographies’, 2004, p.216