NGANAMPA KAMPATJANGKO UNNGU Beneath The Canvas: The Lives & Stories of Tjala Arts
Young Adult Non-Fiction Art History Non-Fiction Biography & Memoir Aboriginal Art Australian Indigenous Studies Collectible Art Books
NGANAMPA KAMPATJANGKO UNNGU Beneath The Canvas: The Lives & Stories of Tjala Arts is the only hard-cover, fully illustrated monograph that documents the birth and rise of the Tjala Arts centre in the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia. Published in 2015 and already out-of-print, this 200-plus-page volume gathers first-person interviews, historic photographs and more than 120 colour plates of canvases that rarely leave the desert. Buyers receive an instant library-grade reference on one of Australia’s most collectable Aboriginal art movements, presented in English text that remains accessible to secondary-school readers yet detailed enough for curators and collectors.
What makes the book highly sought-after is its insider authorship: every story is told by the artists themselves—senior men and women such as Mick Wikilyiri, Nyukana Norris and the late Kunmanara (Harry) Tjutjuna—through the Tjala Arts collective. Readers learn how painting became a vehicle for keeping Tjukurpa (Dreaming law) alive while creating a sustainable community economy. Chapters trace the shift from early board paintings done on discarded builder’s plywood to the large, vibrant canvases now represented in the National Gallery of Australia and the British Museum, giving collectors provenance data that underpins current market values.
Physical collectors prize this copy for its durable sewn-binding hardcover and original dust jacket, both increasingly scarce in the secondary market. The copy offered here is clean and tight inside—no inscriptions, no foxing, no dog-eared leaves—while the jacket shows only a minor tape repair and small spine-top tear, typical shelf evidence that keeps the price accessible compared with the four-figure sums already paid at Australian auction. With global demand for APY Land art surging, owning the definitive Tjala Arts catalogue now is both a cultural treasure and a solid antiquarian investment.
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