aboriginal artist: Morris Gibson Tjapaltjarri

View artworks by Morris Gibson Tjapaltjarri

Morris Gibson Tjapaltjarri, born 1957, is the son of Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi and Ningura Napurrula, his uncle who is in essence his second father, is world renown artist Willy Tjungurrayi.

His family first came into Papunya with the Welfare Branch Patrol in July 1962 when Morris was a boy of six for treatment at papunya hospital after Morris had rolled into a fire the previous night.

Returning to his Pintupi Homelands after he had healed, the family, with a large group of Pintupi people walked the hundreds of kilometres back to Papunya the following year where they settled and stayed.

Morris eventually moved to Kintore with his wife Helen where they reside to this day.

Having learned and now inherited custodianship of Dreaming stories from his father, predominantly the Tingari Dreaming Cycle.
Morris began painting in 1998, immediately after his Fathers death, due to the vivid dreams he had about his now custodial responsibilities.
These dreams inspired Morris to apply what he had learned watching his father paint over the years.

Morris paints in a powerful style reminiscent of the early masters, the first wave of Pintupi artists who came out of Papunya in 1971, including his father Yala Yala.