Patricia Tunkin Baker b. 1981

Patricia (Kani) Tunkin Baker was born in 1981 in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), and lives in Kanpi, a small community in located in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands situated 450 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, in the NT.

Patricia is a member of the Baker family, one of the most notable artistic families of Aboriginal Australian art. Patricia was taught to paint by the celebrated Jimmy Baker, a senior artist and instigator in the creation of the APY Lands art movement. His daughter, and Patricia’s mother, is Kay Baker - a renowned artist in her own right, and a major instigator in the establishment of the Tjunku Palya Art Centre in Fregon. Patricia and her sister, the talented Teresa Baker, learned the associated Tjukurrpa (Dreamings) of their country from their elders, which they now depict in their paintings.

Patricia is an acclaimed artist in her own right, and has travelled and exhibited in Europe and the USA.  Patricia’s paintings depict the stories that have been passed down to her, particularly the Minyma Malilu story that tells of an ancestral spiritual woman. There is a significant site associated with this story, a cave near Kanpi, that is a deeply spiritual place for Aṉangu women like Patricia and is still visited today.