Dennis Nelson Tjakamarra is the son of Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, one of the founders of the desert painting movement, and his second wife Gladys (Yawitji) Napanangka, who was among the first group of women at Papunya to paint for Papunya Tula Artists. Dennis remembers going “after school or smoko time” to watch the painters at work. He says his father taught him to paint. Dennis’ paintings are strongly reminiscent of his father’s early works: “I carry on his style. I know.” His father also taught him took him to the sites of the Kalipinypa Kapi Tjukurrpa (Water Dreaming) with “lots of birds playing round after the rain”; the “Death Spirit [that] comes from underground in the middle of the desert” and Tjikari where the “Men Dreaming [are] still there now”. Dennis painted for Papunya Tula Artists in the early 1990s and now works with Papunya Tjupi Arts.