Lance Chadd, also known as Tjyllyungoo, was born in Bunbury, a coastal city in southwestern Western Australia, in 1954. The child of Noongar and Yamatji parents, Chadd has six brothers and five sisters. He has spent most of his life in the southwest region of Western Australia. A self-taught artist, Chadd was recognised for his creative talents in his schooldays, winning prizes for his work. He creates atmospheric landscapes in a realistic style and has worked across a range of media including oils, watercolours, gouache, acrylics, charcoal and pencil. Chadd’s uncles Alan Kelly and Reynold Hart were among the most renowned of the 'Carrulop children’, a group of artists who produced work under the guidance of Noel and Lilly White, a humanitarian couple who managed the Carrolup Native Settlement (later known as Marribank) in the 1940s and encouraged the young inmates to draw and paint the bush around the settlement. Chadd’s work has been greatly influenced by the Carrolup tradition, and also by the styles of Albert Namatjira and Hans Heysen . He has states:

'Landscape is my main foundation. I move in different avenues as far as cultural heritage is concerned, and spirituality. It’s always based on landscape and I find myself going back to that.’ (quoted in Stanton & Hill 2000)

Chadd began exhibiting in the 1980s. Exhibitions have included 'Aboriginal Artists of the South-West: Past and Present’ at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery (2000), 'South West Central: Indigenous art from south Western Australia 1833-2002’(2003) at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and 'The Legacy of Koorah Coolingah (The Legend of Children Long Ago)’ at the Brisbane Powerhouse (2009). Solo exhibitions have included 'Tjyllyungoo-recent works’ (2001) at Indigenart in Perth.
Chadd has also participated in a number of public art projects. He was one of a group of six artists (others in the group were Shane Pickett, Troy Bennell, Yvonne Kickett, Alice Warrell and Sharyn Egan) that created the Ngallak Koort Boodja (Heartland) Canvas, which was unveiled as the centrepiece of the 2006 Perth International Arts Festival. The canvas measured eight by ten metres, and its design was formulated as a result of three years of community consultation with Noongar families and community groups so that it represented the fourteen clans of the Noongar nation. Chadd has also created public art for the footpaths around Woodbridge Lakes for the Midland Redevelopment Authority, and the Hillview Community Bushland in East Victoria Park.
Chadd’s works have been acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Berndt Museum of Anthropology.

Writers:

Fisher, Laura
staffcontributor

Date written:

2011

Last updated:

2011