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LONG TOM TJAPANANGKA (born circa 1930 - 2006)
Acrylic on Belgian linen
71 x 121.5 cm

In this painting Long Tom has depicted Uluru (Ayers Rock). Over the years Long Tom painted many works that featured this sacred geological formation. He produced minimalist landscapes where the rock usually filled most of the canvas, often with broad stretches of rich desert colour. The four black lines or vertical slashes of shadow represent the deep crevices in the surface of Uluru. Long Tom has said of Uluru, “Ayers Rock, big mountain. Biggest story. Marla (small red marsupial-like kangaroo). They bin travelling wati tjuta (big group of men on secret mens’ business). Big place, that blue bird (lornpa like a willy wag tail, bin get away from that place now (Ayers Rock) north-east. He bin come through that Mt. Leibig. Through that Yuendumu creek. He bin finish up Ayers Rock”.

PROVENANCE
Ikuntji Art Centre, Alice Springs, painted 1996,
Catalogue number IK96LT160
Niagara Gallery, Melbourne

Long Tom Tjapanangka was born circa 1930 at Lupul in the Frederick Ranges, 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory. He travelled on foot with his family from his birthplace to Haasts Bluff. He worked all around the Northern Territory and in parts of Queensland as a stockman, a laborer and a police tracker, finally returning to Haasts Bluff after almost forty years. He started painting in 1993 and began to produce striking minimalist landscapes and lyrical depictions of desert animals. He had two wives, Marlee Napurrula and Mitjili Napurrula and had two children with Marlee, Ena Lane and Freddie Fly. Long Tom and Mitjili often worked on his paintings together, an example of the ongoing cultural practice of sharing the depiction of visual stories. He was awarded first prize in the 16th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Straight Islander Award in 1999.

REPRESENTED
National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of Tasmania
Museums and Art Galleries of Northern Territory
Flinders University Art Museum
Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
Parliament House, Canberra