Judy Watson Napangardi, of the Northern Territory community of Yuendumu, is a senior female painter known for her distinctive creative style. She is highly accomplished and prolific artist who has painted with the Warlukurlangu artists since 1986. Judy’s work is typified by varied layered combinations of highly developed colour composition and rich textural effects. She paints stories from her traditional country at Mina Mina to the west of Yuendumu. Her work is held in many private, regional and national collections. Judy is arguable the most significant living female Indigenous artist in Australia, being nominated as one of the ’50 Most Collectible Artists” by the prestigious Australian Art Collector magazine.
Thomas Tjapaltjarri was born sometime around 1964 in the Gibson Desert, Western Australia. Thomas and his family, fellow artists Warlimpirrnga, Walala, Yukultji, Yalti and Tjakaria led a completely nomadic life until they emerged from the desert, coming to Kiwirrkurra in 1984. They became known “the Last Nomads” or “the group of nine”, and they had had no contact with western society until this point. Amazingly, Thomas and Walala and Warlimpirrnga transitioned from an utterly traditional lifestyle to commencing as an artist within a matter of a few years. Thomas paints simple, geometric designs and uses a dotting technique shared with other Pintupi artists such as his brothers, Warlimpirrnga and Walala, and also George Ward Tjungurrayi. Thomas’s works generally explore the stories of the Tingari cycle. Tingari are the legendary beings of the Pintupi people that travelled the desert performing rituals, teaching law, creating landforms and shaping what would become ceremonial sites.
Nellie Marks Nakamarra was born in Papunya in 1958. She was taught the Dreamings of her family from a young age and is now custodian of Dreaming stories from her father’s and grandfather’s country, for the region east of Kintore in the Western Desert. Her mentors have been famous artists like Old Mick Namarrari, Uta Uta, Pinta Pinta, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, and her step-father Turkey Tolson. Nellie has emerged as a significant artist in her own rights. She is the daughter of a Warlpiri women and her younger sister Elizabeth Marks Nakamarra, who is also a renowned artist, and the step daughter of Turkey Tolsen one of the early founders of the Desert Art Movement.
Lilly Kelly Napangardi’s work is in high demand and her paintings are represented by major private and public collections throughout the world including the Queensland Art Gallery. She has also won the prestigious Telstra Art Award in 1986 and was selected in 2002 as well as 2003. Lilly Kelly was born circa 1948 in the Haast Bluff region of the Northern Territory. She lived at the newly established settlement of Papunya for much of her early life, relocating to Mt Liebig with her husband in the early 1980′s. She began painting in the 1980′s. Her hypnotic ‘Sand Hills’ paintings are made up of fine dots and dashes, their muted tones building up a mysterious, hidden topography of her land. Lilly’s stories are from the Haasts Bluff and Kunajarrayi region, her traditional country, and she paints for the Watyawanu Art Centre. Lilly is a respected senior law woman of the community imparting knowledge of traditional songs and dancing to the younger generation. Her works are in high demand and are represented in major private and public collections throughout the world.
