Tjungkara Ken Biography

DOB: 1969
Born: Amata, SA, APY Lands
Language: Pitjantjatjara
Paintings: Seven Sisters, Seven Sisters and Tjala Tjukurpa (Honey Ant Dreaming), My Country

Tjungkara Ken lives int he remote Aboriginal community of Amata. She is the youngest of nine children, to artist's Mick Wililyiri and Faniny Mick.  She grew up watching the women of Amata as they learnt batik, natural dyeing, spinning, weaving and leatherwork techniques.  She began painting in 1997 when Minymaku Arts (renamed as Tjala Arts in 2005) was opened by the women of amata.  She started painting professionally in 2008 and is a dedicated artist who has become a significant figure in contemporary Aboriginal art from the APY region.

Tjungkara paints with her distinctive style of exceptionally fine dot work, rich colour palette and pulsating compositions. Her paintings depict stories and figures from her personal Tjukurpa (Dreaming), the spirituality that is associated with her ancestor’s homeland. Her father is from the country around Amata and Walitjara, and Ken most often portrays this country and its Tjukurpa in her paintings. She also illustrates her mother’s country, which is further west near Irrunytju in Western Australia.

She is well known for her sophisticated use of colour and striking works depicting the Seven Sisters dreaming story. The Seven Sisters story tells of the elder sisters protecting and teaching each the younger sisters, as they journey across the desert. Circles and ovals represent important sites; Travel lines join them to mark the flight of the Seven Sisters. The tjala (honey ant), which refers to the sister’s country is also the subject within much of her works.

Tjungkara continues to work both as a solo artist and with her family. She is one of five sisters who have painted as the ‘Ken Sisters Collaborative,’ along with Yaritji Young, Freda Brady, Maringka Tunkin and Sandra Ken, who were awarded the Wynne Prize in 2016 for their painting ‘Seven Sisters.’ Tjunkara and her sisters have also collaborated with non-indigenous artists such as Ben Quilty in 2017 for Sydney Contemporary to share ideas about colour and movement, scale and energy. All these collaborations have resulted in a remarkable depth of talent and expertise.

Tjungkara has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize (2017) and the Wynne Prize (2019, 2021). In the 2021 Wynne Prize, she was awarded the Roberts Family Prize. She has also been a finalist in the Telstra Award numerous times (2022, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010).

Tjungkara has exhibited widely throughout Australia and her work is represented in collections including Art Bank, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, QAGOMA, and private collections include the Corrigan Collection, Lagerberg Swift Collection, and the Laverty Collection.