One of the greatest of the seminal ‘art mob’ from the early 1970’s at Papunya, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri is a proud family man from the Anmatyerre people in Central Australia. He grew up at Napperby Station and Aileron and went through his initiation ceremonies there. Later his role at the infamous Papunya community varied from being a cook to helping the Pintupi people settle in to community life. Later, of course, he became one of the legendary founders of the Aboriginal art movement in 1971.

His paintings provide a link with that historic moment at Papunya and all that went before. These days ill health prevents Billy from painting but he is a familiar site in Alice Springs where he now resides.

Orphaned as an infant as a result of the Coniston massacre in 1928, Billy was raised by his aunt, Clifford Possum’s mother. He recalls stories of that fearful time at Coniston.

"All the people were running. I was a little one – in a coolamon. My mother put me under a bush. My father had gone hunting - for rabbit and goanna. They killed my mother. I was grown up by her sister..."

This was Billy Stockman’s first contact with white people.

In 1971 Geoffrey Bardon a white schoolteacher assigned to the Papunya School initiated a project to paint a mural using the Aboriginal colours and traditional iconography. This dreaming represented in the wall painting was the dominant western desert story "Honey Ant Dreaming". Two elders, Old Mick Tjakamarra and Old Tom Onion ‘gave’ the legend to the school and Billy together with Kaapa Tjampitjinpa and Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra carried out the painting. Their work became the first Central Desert art to be exhibited publicly and set in motion the amazing phenomenon that has unfolded over the past three decades. Following a catastrophic, bureaucratic decision this most important mural was destroyed less than one year after its completion.

Billy Stockman has emerged as one of the most prolific and important Aboriginal painters of this time. His work, sprung from the world’s oldest continuous culture, still stands alone, and its very essence is one of intrinsic spirituality. The powerful and heroic dreaming symbols of his paintings are charged with authority and religious knowledge. A metaphysical core and a deep affinity with the land anchor the animated texture of his work.

72. Men’s Initiation Ceremony 1993, 129 x 85cm

Billy has visited the USA on several occasions, most notably in 1988 when his work was included in the huge "Dreamings; the Art of Aboriginal Australia" exhibition at the Asia Society Galleries in New York. During that visit this senior Anmatyerre man also performed ceremonial dances with Michael Nelson Jakamarra.

In recent years the Australian National Gallery in Canberra has acquired his paintings. He is represented in major institutions such as the New South Wales Art Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia, and the University of WA Anthropology Museum. Other collections include Artbank Sydney, Jinta Desert Art Gallery Sydney, Victorian Arts Centre, Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia Melbourne, Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery Alice Springs, Christensen Collection, held at the Museum of Victoria, Donald Kahn collection, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, The Holmes a Court Collection, and The Kelton Foundation Santa Monica U.S.A.

Recognised now as one of Australia’s most exceptional indigenous painters, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, has through his paintings helped to introduce Aboriginal culture to many people throughout the world.

73. Men’s Initiation Ceremony 1993, 136 x 87.5cm

In this painting Billy depicts a Dreaming story related directly to sacred men’s initiation ceremonies associated with the area of Mount Densen, situated to the north west of Papunya. The custodians of this Dreaming are the Tjapaltjarri and Tjungurrayi skin groups (father and son).