The Father of Contemporary Aboriginal Art

Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, is one of Australia's most well-known artists of the Western Desert Art Movement.

His mother was killed in the Conistton Massacre in 1928; his father was away from the camp hunting and survived. Billy was raised on Napperby Station by his auntie, the mother of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. In the 1960s he was working as a cook at Papunya when many of thePintupi people were brought in from the west. Like Clifford he began his artistic career carving wooden animals for the arts and crafts marketplace.

In 1971 Geoffrey Bardon a white school teacher assigned to the Papunya School began a project of painting a mural using the aboriginal colors and traditional iconography. Along with three other artists, Billy Stockman, took over the project which became the first piece of Central Desert Art to be exhibited. This painting represented the "Honey Ant Dreaming".

These artists held vitally important tribal positions and were instrumental in the instruction of young Aboriginal men. Instead of imposing European notions of perspective on their paintings, the men used the existing system of desert culture symbols to depict their dreamings and their relationship with the land. This was an experiment which had staggering results. This genesis of the contemporary art movement empowered a renewed sense of pride and cultural identity among the Aboriginal people of the region.

Billy Stockman soon emerged as one of the most prolific and important artists of his time. His work, sprung from the world's oldest continuous culture, still stands alone and its very essence is one of intrinsic spirituality.

The powerful and heroic dreaming symbols of his paintings are charged with authority and religious knowledge. The ebullient texture of his work is anchored by a metaphysical core and a deep affinity with the land.

As a founder of the Contemporary Art Movement and as a senior custodian of his land and dreaming stories, Billy has been active in communicating his traditional beliefs to the outside world.

Billy's work has been seen around the world in several traveling exhibitions, as well as being featured in many Galleries and Collections through out Australia. In 1988 he was involved with the opening and exhibited in New York for the "Dreamings: Art of Aboriginal Australia'. This exhibition traveled to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the 'All Black Festival' in South Africa. In recent years the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra has acquired his painting as well as the New South Wales Art Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia, University of WA Anthropology Museum.

Known as one of Australia's most exceptional artists, Billy Stockman Japaltjarri, through his paintings, is able to promote Aboriginal culture throughout the world helping to develop the resurgence of the Dreaming as well as a healthy economic base for the Aboriginal communities. It is important that the spirit of Jukurrpa is revived to aid in the healing of the entire planet. Focusing on the spiritual content of Aboriginal society Billy is able to incorporate this strong foundation with a modern definition for all to understand and benefit from.