Jackie (Kurltjunyintja) Giles Tjapaltjarri was born in the late 1930s in the bush east of Kiwirrkurra, Northern Territory, at a kangaroo dreaming site called Tjamu Tjamu. He grew up with his extended family, living off their own country and traveling vast distances through the desert on foot. They watched the European presence in their country grow and in the 1950s where forced to move to the Warburton Mission 240 km south of Patjarr.

By this time he was well known and widely respected as a traditional Aboriginal healer (Maparntjarra) in the Western Desert, a gift which was passed on to him by his father. He was one of the first who painted for the Warburton Art Project and many people learned by watching him. ...