Aboriginal Fine Art

Tribe: Pintupi

Area: Kintore, Northern Territory

Born: circa 1938

Biography:

Ningura Napurrula was born at Watulka, south of Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia. She is the widow of Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi, a highly respected Pintupi elder and an outstanding artist who painted for Papunya Tula.
Ningura’s paintings depict designs associated with the rockhole sites of Palturunya and Wirrulnga, east of the Kiwirrkura Community (Mt. Webb) in Western Australia.
Ningura depicts the mythological events of her ancestors. Her artworks focus on the travels of her female ancestors, the sacred sites that they passed, and the mythological significance of the bush tucker that they collected. In mythological times, one old woman, Kutunga Napanangka, passed through this site during her travels towards the east. She passed through numerous sites along the way before arriving at the permanent water site of Muruntji, south west of Mt. Leibig. These travels and rituals help to explain the current customs and the ceremonial lives of these Pintupi women.
Ningura Napurrula is of one of the eight great Australian artists whose work is featured in the permanent collection of one of Europe’s most important public museum, Musee Quai Branly in Paris. Ningura is one of Australia’s 50 most collectable artists according the Australian Art Collector magazine.

Awards:

2001, finalist 18th Telstra NATSIAA
2002, 32nd Alice Prize, highly commended

Collections:

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Art Gallery of N.S.W, Sydney
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Queensland National Art Gallery, Brisbane
Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
Private Collection Luciano Benetton, Presidedente, Benetton Fashion House. March 2011