‘Erranwaltta’ the middle lake close to Wilkinarra (Lake MacKay) in the Gibson Desert, WA.

Linda’s father Rintje Tjungarrayi was Pitjantjatjara & her mother Wanada Nungala Pintupi. Rintje was killed in an inter-tribal spearing when Linda was an infant. She was then raised by her step father Shorty Langkata Tjungarrayi who was one of the original groups of Pintupi men to start painting in the early 1970’s.

Linda’s family walked out of the desert in the mid 1940’s to Hassts Bluff where she was educated by the Lutheran Missionaries.

Linda has been married several times, her first husband was Tommy Wilpinta. After his death her second husband was Musty Syddick. His father was a cameleer from North India who transported goods over the desert in the early 20th century.

She still uses his family name, although she has since remarried.

Linda was taught to paint by Shorty Langkata, before his death in 1987.He instructed Linda to continue painting. She did this with further guidance from Nosepeg Tjupurrula & Uta Uta Tjungala. Linda has since developed her own distinctive style with the merging of her tribal upbringing & her Lutheran education.

After seeing the movie E.T. in the early 1990s (which she watched more than twenty times). Linda began series of paintings that embraced her strong Christian beliefs & combined her extensive knowledge of mythological dreaming. She interpreted E.T. as an ancestral spirit from the sky, who like Jesus visited Earth, interacted with humans & then returned to spirit world.

Linda also paints Tingari dreamings, her fathers Emu story & mother snake story which depict both mythological stories & actual events of traditional life in the desert.

National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
Museum & Art Gallery of Northern Territory
Aralven Art Centre, Alice Springs
Art Gallery Of New South Wales
Bernt Museum of Anthropology
Several times finalist in the Blake Prize, National Award for religious Art
Designed one of the ceiling paintings for the Star City Casino, Sydney 
Won the peoples choice for the Telstra Award 2006