William Sandy

Born ‘in the bush’ in 1944 at Kaanpi in Pitjantjatjara country round Ernabella in SA. Winkilini, further to the south in SA, is William’s country from his father and grandfather. Kunapi, far to the south of Papunya out towards Docker River, is his country from his grandmother and mother’s side. He paints Dingo, Emu, Woman, Green Bean and other Dreaming stories for this country. He grew up walking around these places – and further north around Hermannsburg, Areyonga and Haasts Bluff. Eventually the family settled at Ernabella, where William attended the mission school. From here William came to Papunya in 1973 and married Violet Nakamarra, sister of Michael Nelson Jagamara. They have four children, a boy and three girls, one adopted. From the time of his arrival in Papunya settlement, William worked for the Papunya Council. From the late ’80s, he and his wife have been health workers with the Papunya Medical Service. William has recently stopped other employment to concentrate on his painting. He did his first paintings in 1975, teaching himself after watching the other artists at work. However, it was not till the early ’80s that he began painting regularly for Papunya Tula Artists, after Daphne Williams took over the running of the company. In 1985 he won the NT Art Award. His work was included in the ‘Dreamings’ show which toured the USA in 1988-9, and in the subsequent show of Papunya Tula Artists at the John Weber Gallery in New York. He had a solo exhibition in 1990 at Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi. William’s wife, Violet Nakamarra, who passed away in 2007, had also painted occasionally since the early ’80s.
William passed away in Alice Springs on January 11 2023.