Nosepeg Tjupurrula b. 1915

Also known as:
  • Nosepeg Tjunkata Tjupurrula
  • Jungkata Nosepeg Tjupurrula
  • Artist (Painter)
Nosepeg began painting at the beginning of the art movement in Papunya. A consummate politician and a senior elder in his community he was a driving force in the outstation movement from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1994
Name
Nosepeg Tjupurrula
Also known as:
  • Nosepeg Tjunkata Tjupurrula
  • Jungkata Nosepeg Tjupurrula
Birth date
c.1915
Birth note
south of Lake Macdonald
Death date
1993
Death place
None
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
Residence
  • Papunya, NT
Other Occupation
  • Army (Army enlisted in the Army during World War II along with Charlie Tarawa)
Languages
  • English
Is Indigenous
Yes
Dreaming
  • Grass Seed
  • Bush Tobacco
Initial Record Data Source
  • Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary
Copyright
  • Papunya Tula Artists, NT

Born c. 1914 in Pintupi/Wenampa country. An account of Nosepeg’s early contacts with European culture is included in Wildbird Dreaming (Amadio & Kimber 1988). Nosepeg began painting at the beginning of the art movement in Papunya – including depictions of his Bush Tobacco and Grass Seed Dreaming stories, but his role in the community always took precedence over painting. His remarkable life is the subject of a documentary directed by Billy Marshall Stoneking (1989). He reputedly appeared in more screen roles than any other Australian, including Jedda , Journey Out Of Darkness and the television series Whiplash and Boney . Into his mid seventies, Nosepeg was still a leading identity and one of the most important elders in Aboriginal Central Australia – a cross-cultural negotiator who was a friend of politicians as diverse as Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser and a force behind the outstation movement of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.

Writers:
Johnson, Vivien
Date written:
1994
Last updated:
2011
associate of
Charlie Tjungarrayi Tarawa
1925
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Malcolm Fraser
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Gough Whitlam
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Mick Tjapaltjarri Namarari
1926
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Linda Junkata Napaljarri Syddick
1940
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Tutuma Tjapangati
1915
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Johnny Tjupurrula Warangkula
1920
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Papunya Tula Atrists, NT
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
Collections
Citations:
  • Johnson, V., (2008), Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, (Place: IAD Press, Alice Springs, NT ISBN 978 1 86465 090 7url: http://www/iadpress.com) http://www.iadpress.com
  • Stoneking, Billy Marshall, (1989), Nosepeg
  • Amadio, N. & Kimber, R, (1988), Wildbird Dreaming, (Place: Greenhouse, Melbourne)