Tjumpo was a senior “law man”, a maparn (traditional healer), and a respected spokesman for his community. Like many senior “law men” Tjumpo simply exuded charisma and was eager to discuss his culture with outsiders. When last we met he talked enthusiastically of his work educating and inducting the young men of the community into Aboriginal Law (male initiation).

Tjumpo was one of the principal subjects of the 2001 documentary Painting Country, which involved an emotional return to the remote desert country in which he was raised. In the film, “He speaks enthusiastically of his childhood in the desert hunting for goanna, porcupine, wallaby, wild cat, and the construction of spinifex and mud shelters for the wet season.” Incredibly fit and strong for his age, Tjumpo attributed this to his diet of bush food.

Here Tjumpo has painted some of his country south of Balgo, close to Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). Marruwa is the general name for this country and is a major Tingari place. The many lines in the painting represent the sandhills that dominate this country. An inventive painter, Tjumpo's is known for monumental works incorporating contrasting visual motifs, this painting fools the eye, seemingly pulling inward and pushing outward at the same time, an effect also sought after by a number of Western abstract painters. In this work, tightly concentrated lines push and pull, pulse and shimmer conveying the feeling of a big country alive with heat, light, and suffused with spiritual undercurrents from the Dreaming. The effect is majestic and uplifting.