Tjapartji Kanytjuri Bates
Tjapartji Kanytjuri Bates (born c. 1933 at Yinunmaru, died 2015) was an Australian Ngaanyatjarra Aboriginal artist based in Warakurna, Wanarn, and Warburton communities in the Gibson Desert. Known to be active from 1991, her work incorporates media of paint, canvas, glass and felt, and is particularly centred around interpretations of Tjukurrpa from her mother and father. Bates was a prolific artist and her work has been shown in over 20 exhibitions, as well as the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia. Art and awards. Bates' art is focused on Tjukurrpa from her mother  and father, particularly Kungarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters) and Warmarrla Tjukurrpa, and features distinctive styles of "unusual symmetries and circular motifs," as well as "traditional motifs and iconographic forms." In the early 1990s, she joined the Warburton Arts Project, which owns the "largest collection of Indigenous art in Australia that is held by Aboriginal people themselves", where she produced her first known work, "Kungkarrangkalpa at Wanarn", in 1991. In 1998, Bates was awarded the Normandy Heritage Art Prize at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. In the late 1990s, Bates returned to Wanarn and continued to paint. Near the  end of her life, she became a resident at the Wanarn Aged Care Facility, which offers a weekly painting program in conjunction with the Warakurna Arts Centre. Her style at this time became looser and more abstract. In addition to work produced through this program, Bates also painted on the materials around her at the facility, including pieces of cardboard and pillowcases. Bates' works, including these later works, were displayed posthumously as part of "Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters", a collaborative exhibition between senior custodians of Aboriginal lands in the Central and Western deserts and the National Museum of Australia , among other partners. Bates' work in the exhibition (which ran from September 2017 to February 2018) illustrates and interprets Seven Sisters songlines. Exhibitions. The following is a list of exhibitions of Bates' works, from shortstgallery.com.au. Bates' work is also a part of the National Gallery of Victoria Collection, the Marshall Collection, the Merenda Collection, the Lagerberg-Swift Collection, the National Gallery of Australia Collection, the Harriet and Richard England Collection, the Lepley Collection and the W. & V. McGeoch Collection.