Mr A. Allen

About the artist

Mr A. Allen
Mr Allen was a self-taught artist and a respected elder in the Kaltukatjara (Docker River) community. 

Pastor Allen is a self-taught artist and a respected elder in the Kaltukatjara (Docker River) community. Mr Allen's family’s country is Kunapula, just south of Kaltukatjara. He has spent much of his life traveling the Western Desert as a Christian Pentecostal pastor.  

Mr Allen's painted several tjukurpa (dreaming stories) including tingarri (ceremony), mulga seed, maku (witchetty grub) and tjala (honey ant). He also painted a unique fusion of tjukurpa with Pentecostal imagery, in which he depicts Yarnangu and Western people holding gatherings. These gatherings play host to ceremonial dances, religious worship, and moral discussions.  

As such, Mr Allen's work visualises elements of the relationship between Yarnangu and Christian belief systems, stemming from the influence of Christian missionaries in recent history. He drew together these two worlds in a celebration of community and faith. Through Mr Allen's work, we can see that the interplay between Yarnangu and Christian spirituality has become an indelible aspect of community history and identity.