Michael Nelson Tjakamarra is an Indigenous Australian artist born in 1945 in Central Australia. He paints using acrylic on canvas to represent Dreamtime stories and sacred sites passed down from his father. His 1984 painting "Five Dreamings" depicts geometric patterns and symbols like snakes, dots, and concentric circles that tell Dreamtime stories through their arrangement. Tjakamarra creates his paintings by sitting on the ground and moving around the canvas to feel connected to the earth's energy when representing ancestral stories. His art provides a map-like image of Aboriginal peoples' spiritual connection to the land.

1. Michael Nelson Tjakamarra
(aka Jagamarra)
b. 1945
Indigenous Artist
Aboriginal Art

2. Five Dreamings 1984
Michael Nelson Tjakamarra assisted by Marjorie Napajarri
1984 'Five Dreamings’ Acrylic on Canvas, 122 x 182cm
Papunya, Central Australia

4. Critical Study
In this painting you can see a simplified image of a snake and geometrical
patterns such as dots, wavy lines and concentric circles (roundels)
They appear to be signs or symbols, telling a story as our eye is led from left to
right across the painting.
The central interconnected roundels divide the painting in two.
The colours are mainly those we find in soil and rocks with the addition of blue.
These designs when applied to any surface, whether on the body of a person
taking part in a ceremony or on a shield, have the power to transform the object
to one with religious significance and power.
Dots are one of the conventional symbols widely used and for many nonAboriginal people these are what give Central and Western Desert art its
distinctive character. Dots may represent many things - including stars, sparks
or burnt ground. The base or floor of any Aboriginal design or painting is the
preparation of the earth, or the ancestor being's involvement with the earth.

5. Symbols used in Papunya Central Desert art

6. Art Making Practice
• Tjakamarra creates his paintings
by laying the canvas on the floor,
and moving around the canvas
whilst sitting on the ground.
• This way he feels connected to
the earth and can draw from its
energy when representing
Dreamtime stories that his father, a
‘medicine man’ passed down to
him from his father.

7. •
Aboriginal works are mostly about
places or sites of ancestral beings
in the dreamtime.
•
Since many stories of the
dreamtime are sacred and belong
to the artist or group of people,
without their permission it is not
possible to understand the meaning
or appreciate the importance of the
land to the Aboriginal life.
•
Tjakamarra learned the skills he
later used for painting when he
lived out in the desert. Most
traditional Aboriginal art derives
from the pictures that were drawn in
the sand to teach children how to
read animal tracks in preparation
for the hunt, or from the painting
used on the bodies and implements
used in traditional ceremonies.
Historical Study

8. Historical Study…
•
•
They believe the spirit of
Dreamtime beings is still
hidden within the land.
•
Size = 77 x 122 cm.
Acrylic on linen
Their art is a means of
communicating their
religious beliefs.
•
"Kangaroo Dreaming"
These paintings provide
us with a map like image
of the enormous space in
which Aboriginal people
exist and travel.
Michael Tjakammara
paints Possum, Snake,
Two Kangaroos, flying
Ant and Yam dreamings
for the area around
Pikilyi.

9. Michael Nelson Tjakamarra
•Michael Nelson Tjakamarra was born at
Vaughan Springs, NT.
•He grew up in the bush ‘without clothes’, first
seeing White men at Mt Doreen Station
•He remembers hiding in the bush in fear.
•He now lives in Papunya, NT.
•He came to Papunya in 1976, working for a
time in the government store and for the
Council, observing the work of the older artists
for years before beginning to paint regularly for
himself in 1983.
•In 1984 he won the National Aboriginal Art
Award

10. Possum Dreaming
•
•
The central roundels depict
the Flying Ant Dreaming at a
place called Yuwintji, west of
Vaughan Springs.
The large and smaller circle to
the right above the central line
represents two sacred sites
north of Vaughan Springs,
Tjangakulangu and Mawitji.
Parliament House in Canberra.
Tjakamarra designed the mosaic in the courtyard outside Australia's Parliament house.

11. Possum Dreaming…
•
•
•
Yilkiri, a site near Mt Singleton is
also shown. This represents
where a willy-willy turned into a
rainbow serpent. Wanampi, seen
here in the form of a snake.
Below the serpent’s body are the
tracks of a rock wallaby travelling
between two sacred sites.
Three circles in the bottom left
corner represent Miruwarri, a rain
dreaming site.
Aboriginal art can now be seen in our capital city in a form in which it is
both useful and permanent. The granite mosaic pavement in the open
forecourt of the new Parliament House in Canberra was designed by
Michael Nelson Tjakamarra. It represents our ancient continent and our
oldest civilisation.

12. Tjakamarra's painting displayed in the foyer of the
Sydney Opera House. 8m long

13. The variety of Aboriginal painting styles is reflected in the regions and communities
they come from.
Tjakamarra is from the Central and Western Desert community.

14. Historical Study
• The Aboriginal people are
trying to find a balance between
keeping information secret to
keep their laws, beliefs and
society structure alive and
sharing information in the hope
of achieving the recognition of
their rights.
• Art makes sure their culture is
passed onto future generations
and is a visual language of signs
and symbols.
Five Dreamings 1997, acrylic on canvas,
125 x 86 cm

15. Tjakamarra painted this BMW M3 racer in 1989
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5zz7fkdtKo