Linda Syddick Napaltjarri was born  at Jigalong in Western Australia, near Lake MacKay, a large, dry, salt lake, straddling the Western Australia-Northern Territory border, northwest of Kintore. Her parents were  Wanala Nangala and Rintja Tjungurrayi.

In 1943, when she was just 18 months old, Linda's mother moved to Kintore after her father was killed in a spearing. Thereafter, Linda was raised by her father’s brother, the famous, early   Western Desert painter, Shorty Lungkarta Tjungerayi. Linda lived a traditional lifestyle walking the Pintupi homelands with her family and developing an intimate knowledge of her country until her early 30’s in the late 1960’s and, during the 1970’s, she assisted Shorty, who along with Nosepeg Tjupurrula and Uta Uta Tjangala taught her to paint. She has continued to be an active painter   since that time.

Linda's "Gibson Desert Dreaming" was inspired by both her traditional nomadic life in the desert, and the Dreaming of her father and stepfather. Linda's father was Rintje Tjungurrayi and was he killed by a revenge spearing party in accordance with customary Law when Linda was about eighteen months old. Her stepfather, artist Lankata Shorty Tjungurrayi, subsequently brought her up. Before Lungkata died in 1985, he instructed Linda to carry on his work and paint his Dreaming; and so it was that in 1986 her two famous artist uncles, Uta Uta Tjangala, and Nosepeg Tjupurrula, taught Linda the art of painting.

Linda often paints the Dreaming story of the Tingari and the Emu Men. The Emu Men were ancestral beings that roamed the landscape during the Dreamtime or Creation Period. The Emu was the totem of her father, Rintje Tjungurrayi and stepfather, Lungkata Shorty Tjungurrayi. The Tingari were ancestral spirit beings, which went on very long journeys, creating much of the desert landscape in Central Australia, and instructing the people about law and custom.

Linda paints country mostly around Lake MacKay, which has been central to the cultural and spiritual life of the Pintupi people for thousands of years. People used to camp around its shores during their seasonal journeys and gather there for ceremonies. Lake MacKay was where Linda was born and traveled for most of her early childhood. It is a large, dry, salt lake bordered by Western Australia and the Northern Territory, northwest of Kintore.

Born: c. 1937

Location: Wilkinkarra (Lake MacKay)

Skin: Pintupi

Language: Pitjantjatjara

Mediums

Acrylic on canvas

Acrylic on linen

Themes

Tingari song cycle

The Emu Men

Awards:

1995, One year fellowship, Australia Council for the Arts.

1996, two years Visual Arts Fellowship, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Board, Australia Council for the Arts

Joint runner up, National Indigenous Heritage Award: 2000

Finalist, 12th NATSIAA.

2003, visual art grant $11,000, Australia Council for the Arts.

2004 Highly Esteemed, Alice Springs Art Award.

Four times finalist in the Blake Prize for Religious Art.

2006 Telstra General Painting Award, 23rd NATSIAA Darwin

Finalist 2008 NATSIAA Darwin