Her works also include acrylic paintings, weaving, fibre sculpture, ceramics, wood carving and printmaking.
Her mother had walked from Walytjitjata, in the Northern Territory, and arrived at Ernabella Mission shortly after Tapaya's birth.
[citation needed] Like most early artists in her community, Tjunkaya's original style came from milpatjunanyi – an ancient Western Desert practice of drawing in the sand to tell stories to children.
In 1974, Ernabella Arts sent Tapaya to Yogyakarta with several other Pitjantjatjara women to learn more about making batik from Indonesian artists.
[3] Apart from batik, Tapaya's work also include acrylic paintings, weaving, fibre sculpture, ceramics, wood carving, and printmaking.
[1][5] On 8 June 2020, in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Tapaya was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of her service to Indigenous visual arts and the community.