Barney Campbell Tjakamarra

Barney Campbell Tjakamarra ~ Men of High Degree

Men of High Degree

Barney Campbell Tjakamarra is of the Ngaanyatjarra language group, born circa 1928 at Kaylilwarra south Warbuton in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia. He is a well-respected Pintupi Law-Man, and was “grown up” by relatives when his mother and father died when he was young. His uncle took him to Papunya where he became a man.

Barney’s works faithfully portrays his ‘dreamings’ in a meticulous manner and the ‘classical’ Pintupi style of work.

As a senior law man and elder, Barney had the right to paint the Tingari Cycle stories. These song cycles / creation stories form part of the teachings of the initiated youth, providing the basis for contemporary customs. Many of the stories relate to the sacred sites around the Lake MacDonald area.

These creation stories tell of the epic journey of the ancestors, the Tingari Men and Women who travelled through the land in the Dreamtime (Tjukurrpa) creating particular sites and teaching Aboriginal law.

Barney often worked side by side with Willy Tjungurrayi at Kintore, both are serious painters.

When working in the Gallery Gondwana Studios, Barney would often be heard singing in language by the staff, immersed in the ritual of painting his creation stories, faithfully portraying his ‘dreamings’ in a meticulous manner and in the ‘classical’ Pintupi style of work.