Michael Jagamara (also spelt Jagamarra or Tjakamarra) was born some time around 1946-49 at Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs) west of Yuendemu, in Central Australia. He is a Warlpiri and Luritja speaker.

As a young boy, he was taught sand and body paintings and painting on shields by his grandfather. His country lies at the intersection of several major Dreaming paths and his paintings depict these many sacred sites. He is the custodian of many Dreaming stories and believes it is his responsibility to preserve, in paint and print, the stories which can assist the teaching of others about his tradition and culture.

Michael grew up in the bush and remembers hiding in fear at his first sight of white men at Mt Doreen station. He lived at Haasts Bluff until his parents took him to the mission school at Yuendemu for a European education. He left school at thirteen, after initiation, and worked at buffalo shooting, driving trucks, droving cattle and in the army, before returning to Yuendemu and then settling at Papunya in 1976.

He began painting in 1981 at Papunya where he still lives today with his wife Marjorie. There he observed the work of older artists and by 1983 he had began to paint regularly. He paints Possum, Snake, Two Kangaroos, Flying Ant and Yam Dreamings from the area around Pikilyi as well as lightning, rain, shields and sacred sites. He paints several Dreaming stories on a single work: "I thought to myself - I'll do different way to them mob instead of copying them. Do my own way".

In 1984 he won the National Aboriginal Art Award; in 1986 he exhibited in the Biennale of Sydney. In 1987 an 8 meter painting by him was installed in the foyer of the Sydney Opera House and he is also the designer of the 196 square meter mosaic in the forecourt of the National Parliament building.

He visited the USA with Billy Stockman in 1988 for the opening of the "Dreamings: Art of Aboriginal Australia" exhibition in New York. In 1989 he had his first solo exhibition, followed by shows in 1990 and 1993. In 1993 he received the Order of Australia Medal for services to Aboriginal art, and in 1994 he received a Fellowship from the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.

Since c. 2000 Michael uses bold designs executed in a free flowing way still keeping to the Warlpiri mythology. He is considered to be one of the most famous and prolific painters in Australia and his biography, Michael Jagamara Nelson by Vivien Johnson was published in 1997.

Selected Exhibitions:
1985 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1986 Biennale of Sydney; Roar Studios, Melbourne; Institute of Contemporary Art, London

1987 Gallery Gabriella Pizzi, Melbourne

1988 Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri & Michael Nelson Jakamarra with Mem - redrock gallery

Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Australian National Gallery, Canberra

1992 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

1993 Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

1997 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

1998 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs; Gallery Gabriella Pizzi, Melbourne

1999 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs; Embassy of Australia, Washington, U.S.A.

2000 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

2001 Icons of Australian Aboriginal Art, Singapore

Solo Exhibitions:
1989 "Michael Nelson Jagamara", Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1990 "Michael Nelson Jagamara", Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1993 Utopia Art, Sydney

1996 "New Work", Fire-Works gallery, Brisbane

1997 "Nine Dreamings from Mt Singleton", Fire-Works gallery, Brisbane;

1998 "New Expressions", Fire-Works gallery, Brisbane

1999 "Without the Story the Painting is Nothing", curated by S.P. Wright Brisbane City Gallery

MNJ, Fire-Works gallery, Brisbane

"New wor", Desart Gallery Sydney

2000 "Michael Nelson Jagamara Painting", Japingka Gallery, Fremantle

2003 redrock gallery, Melbourne

Group Exhibitions:
1984 "Papunya and Beyond", Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

The First National Aboriginal Art Award, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

1985 The Face of the Centre: Papunya Tula Paintings 1971 - 84, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1986 The Biennale of Sydney, AGNSW, Sydney; Roar Studios, Melbourne

1987 State of the Art: ideas and images of the 1980's, Institute of Contemporary Art, London; The Fourth National Indigenous Art Award, MAGNT, Darwin;

Papunya Tula: 1982-1983, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1988 Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, The Asia society Galleries, New York

1989 Papunya Tula: Contemporary Paintings from Australia's Western Desert, John Weber Gallery, New York;

Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City;

A Myriad of dreaming: 20th Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne;

A Myriad of dreaming: 20th Century Aboriginal Art, Design Warehouse, Sydney;

Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra;

"Windows on the Dreaming", National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

1990 "Balance 1990", Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

1991 Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court, Canberra; Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; The Painted Dream: Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings from the Tim & Vivien Johnson Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery & Te Whare Taonga o Aoteroa National Art Gallery, New Zealand; Alice to Penzance, The Mall Galleries, London

1992 Central Australian Aboriginal Art & Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs

1993 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Kung Gubunga, Oasis Gallery, Gold Coast;

Tjukurrpa, Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central Australia (1971 - 1993), Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

Michael Nelson Tjakamarra - redrock gallery1993-4 Aratjara, Art of the First Australians, Touring - Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London; Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark

1996 Salt Water, Fresh Water, Bore Water, Touring Regional Galleries with Campfire Group

All Stock Must Go! Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery with Campfire Group

1998 Powerful Medicine, Dar Festival of Indigenous Art & Culture, King George Square, Brisbane with Campfire Group;

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne; National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, Old Parliament House, ACT;National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, Touring Exhibition

1999 Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery

2000 National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, Old Parliament House, ACT with Campfire Group;

2000 Telstra National Indigenous Art Awards, MAGNT with Campfire Group

Genesis and Genius, The Art of Papunya Tula, AGNSW

Landmarks, Dar Festival of Indigenous Art and Culture, Brisbane Powerhouse with Campfire Group;

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne with Campfire Group

2000 Landmarks, Dar Festival of Indigenous Art and Culture, Brisbane Powerhouse with Campfire Group

2000 Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne with Campfire Group

2002 redrock gallery Melbourne

2007 June, redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, Gallery Grand Opening Beijing, P.R China

2007 July, redrock gallery, Group Exhibition China World Exhibition Centre, Beijing P.R China

2007 November, redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, International Art Expo, Beijing, P.R China

2008 July, redrock gallery Beijing, 2nd Gallery Opening, Group Exhibition, Beijing, P.R China

Commissions:
1987 Sydney Opera House Bicentennial Mural

1988 Mosaic Forecourt, New Parliament House, Canberra

1989 BMW Art Car Project, - Painted BMW M3 Racing Car

Awards:
1984 First prize, Inaugural National Aboriginal Art Award

1993 Australian Medal for Contribution to Aboriginal Art

Artist's Fellowship, Visual Arts/Craft Board for Australia Council

2001 Finalist in 18th Telstra NATSIAA

Collections:
Araluen Arts Centre

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

Australian Museum, Sydney

Brisbane City Gallery

Centre Culturel Tjibaou, New Caledonia

Ho-Am Art Museum, Korea

Holmes a Court Collection

Mem Aziz collection, Melbourne

Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory

National Gallery of Australia

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia

Rockhampton Art Gallery

South Australian Museum, Adelaide

University of Queensland Art Museum

Vizard Collection

Bibiliography:
Corbally Stourton P, Songlines and Dreamings, Lund Humphries Publishers, London, UK, 1996.

Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Jinta Desert Art Gallery and Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery in association with Fresco Australia, Indigenous Art of the Dreamtime 2 August - 2 September 1999.

Johnson, V., Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert, A Biographical Dictionary, Craftsman House, Roseville, N.S.W. 1994.

Kreczmanski, J.B & Birnberg, M., Aboriginal Artists Dictionary of Biographies, J B Publishing Australia, South Australia, 2004.

Nangara:The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Vol.1 - The Text, Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne 1996.

Perkins, H and Fink H,[eds,] Papunya Tula, Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, New South Wales, 2000.

Sources include:
redrockgallery.net/
aboriginalartonline.com/