Tjayanka Woods (c1935-2014)

Tjayanka Woods (d. 2014) was a senior Pitjantjatjara artist and cultural custodian. Born near Kalaya Piti in South Australia, as a child she lived a semi-nomadic life, hunting goannas, lizards and emu and gathering bush foods, travelling by foot, on donkeys and camels and in trucks. Having woven tjanpi, hair and feathers from a young age, she made sculptural, wearable and practical objects, selling her works through the Tjanpi Desert Weavers enterprise. In 2001, she and other senior artists established Irrunytju Arts in Wingellina, a remote Aboriginal community at the edge of the Gibson Desert, where she began painting. She later moved to the Papulankutja community (or Blackstone), working with Papulankutja Artists and inspiring the younger women in the community. Her acrylic on canvas paintings depicting the Minyma Kutjara tjukurpa (Two Sisters dreaming) and the Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters story) have been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Museum of Australia.