Pepai Jangala Carroll Luritja, Pintupi, Pitjantjatjara language group, circa 1950-2021

Like many Pintupi people of his generation, Pepai was born at the former ration station of Haasts Bluff. Pepai’s father, a Pintupi man, Henry Paripata Tjampitjinpa and his Pitjantjatjara mother, Nancy (Anpulyura) Napangati, spent time living in Hassts Bluff before moving briefly to Areyonga and then Papunya. For a time Paripata was a dingo scalper and travelled long distances collecting their pelts which he sold to support his growing family. On one such trip in the 1950s Pepai accompanied his father to visit Paripata’s birthplace at Ininti. A few years after this trip came the unexpected death of his mother which resulted in Pepai and his siblings being sent a long distance south to live with relatives at Ernabella. Paripata remained in Papunya but tragically passed a short time later. A devastated Pepai remained at Ernabella and when old enough began work as a carpenter on a nearby sheep station. He married Alison Milyika Carroll and together they raised five children. Pepai worked in a variety of jobs before serving a twenty-year career as the Ernabella Community Constable which he retired from in 2007. Retirement did not sit well, and soon after Pepai took to painting and then ceramics, not surprisingly relying on Paripata’s country as his immediate source of inspiration. Pepai quickly established himself as a stalwart at Ernabella Arts.

Luke Scholes in Sotheby's 'Aboriginal Art' , Pepai Jangala Carroll, Walungurru, lot 67