Tanya Tiger Painting Australian Aboriginal Art

A stunning large Painting by Tanya Tiger

Title: Piltati – Rainbow Snake, 2025

Size: 145cm x 171cm

Tanya Tiger: A Vital Link in the Tiger Palpatja Artistic Dynasty

Tanya was born Born in  1997 in the heart of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Tanya Tiger carries forward one of the most profound artistic bloodlines in contemporary Australian Indigenous art. As the granddaughter of the legendary senior artist Tiger Palpatja (c. 1920–2012)—a late-blooming master of Western Desert painting known for his electrifying Wanampi (Rainbow Serpent) stories—Tanya embodies the seamless transmission of Tjukurpa (Dreaming) from elder to kin. Her mother, the second-eldest daughter of Tiger Palpatja, instilled in Tanya the sacred custodianship of Piltati, the rockhole birthplace of her grandfather and epicenter of the family’s ancestral narratives. This maternal lineage, rooted in the resilient women of Amata community, South Australia, taught Tanya to honor the serpentine creators who shaped the desert’s waterways, gorges, and life-sustaining rains.

Raised amidst the red dunes and communal painting sessions at Tjala Arts—the vibrant hub where her grandfather first wielded a brush at age 85—Tanya learned early to channel ancestral memory into acrylics. Her canvases explode with the same bold, non-traditional palette that defined Tiger Palpatja’s oeuvre: electric blues coiling like underground rivers, fiery reds evoking storm clouds, and luminous yellows pulsing with renewal. Yet Tanya’s voice is distinctly her own, layering intricate dotwork to depict not just the Wanampi brothers’ transformative rage—their shift from lazy hunters to eternal guardians—but the nuanced roles of the sister-wives whose pursuit carved the 25-kilometer watercourse at Piltati. These works are talismans of cultural law, warning of greed’s consequences while celebrating the women’s ingenuity in forging the land’s enduring forms.

A devoted custodian and emerging powerhouse, Tanya splits her time between Amata and family homelands near Nyapari, where she collaborates with relatives like her cousins Aileen and Andrea Adamson. Her paintings have graced group exhibitions at Tjala Arts showcases, including surveys of APY women’s stories, and private collections drawn to their rhythmic energy. In Tanya’s hands, the Tiger legacy evolves: a bridge between the grandfather’s late-life revelations and the next generation’s urgent imperative to keep Tjukurpa alive amid a changing world. Through her art, the serpents still slither beneath the earth, whispering renewal to all who listen.