Bernard was born in the bush at Waltja rock-hole close to the home land of Kunumata in the far north west of the Pitjantjatjara Lands of northern south Australia in the 1930. Bernard's mother country is Watarru and his father's place is Aparatjara, which is located near Kanpi community. Bernard lived a traditional nomadic life in the desert prior to contact with Europeans. He remembers seeing white fella's travelling through his country as they headed west to Warburton Mission when he was a young man.

Bernard has the authority to paint many stories associated with his traditional country He is an important community elder with a wealth of knowledge of the Law or Tjukurpa. This cultural knowledge is handed down orally in the retelling of the Tjukurpa (traditional stories of the ancestor's journeys), which not only sustains Anangu (Aboriginal people) physically, but socially and spiritually. Tjukurpa painting depicts a fragment of a larger story, a living history where an ancestor was involved in creating country.

COLLECTIONS:
ARTBANK, AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT NATIONALCONTEMPORARY ART RENTAL
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, CANBERRA,AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY.
DEAKIN UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA.
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY,ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY, ADELAIDE, SOUTHAUSTRALIA.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA,AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
THE ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
THE BEAT KNOBLACUCH COLLECTION, SWITZERLAND.
THE LARGERBERG-SWIFT COLLECTION
THE LEPLEY COLLECTION, PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
THE MARSHALL COLLECTION
THE MERENDA COLLECTION
THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE COLLECTION, CANBERRA,AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY.
UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA, AUSTRALIAN CAPITALTERRITORY
UTS, SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES
THE COLLECTION OF BERENBERE PRIMAT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
THE KENNEDY COLLECTION, SYDNEY, NSW

Bernard Tjalkuri

Tjungu Palya Print Series 2009

About the artist