Mick Tjapaltjarri was born around 1926 at Marnpi in Pintupi country south-east of Kintore, Northern Territory. Tjapaltjarri and his sister, were brought up by relatives after their parents were killed by a revenge party. Later, spending most of his young life at Hermannsbury Mission, Mt Liebig and Haasts Bluff, where was initiated. In 1960, he moved to Papunya where he later in 1971 became one of the founding artists of the famous Papunya Tula art movement in the western desert. Mick moved away from Papunya during the mid 1980s, to the Pinubi community of Kintore, and established an outstation.
Mick's paintings have been exhibited in major galleries in Australia and around the world, are held in many major collections and reproduced in several leading publications on art of Aboriginal Australia and desert art. In 1991, he won the National Aboriginal Art Award. (Source: Koori Mail Ed.88 1994; National Museum of Australia website: http://www.nma.gov.au)
