Born in the late ’40s at Kulkurta in Pintupi country, Simon was a young man not yet married when he began walking to Papunya from west of Kintore across the WA border. His older brother Anatjari Tjakamarra was one of Geoffrey Bardon’s group of 'painting men’ at Papunya in 1971, and Simon remembered doing a few small paintings himself before moving away to Tjukurla. He returned to painting while living at Yai Yai outstation west of Papunya in the late ’70s, becoming interested after watching the older men at work on their canvases. He joined his brothers Anatjari and Jacky Tjakamarra in Kintore in the early ’80s and began painting regularly for Papunya Tula Artists, rapidly emerging as a subtle and powerful exponent of the classic Pintupi style of circles and connecting lines. He usually painted Tingari stories from around the area of Kulkurta.
- Writers:
- Johnson, Vivien
Note: primary biographer
- Date written:
- 1994
- Last updated:
- 2011
