| Artist Name: |
Naata Nungarrayi |
| Tribe: |
Kintore |
| Area: |
Central & Western Desert |
| Born: |
Born c. 1932 |
Naata Nungarrayi was born in 1932 at the site of Kumil, which is west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. Naata is from the Pintupi Language group located in Kintore, and is one of the leading senior elders of the Kintore women artist movement, with works sought after by collectors worldwide. She came into Papunya with her family on one of Jeremy Long’s government patrols. In 1999 Naata contributed to Kintore women’s painting as part of the Western Desert Dialysis Appeal.
Naata is the sister of George Tjungurrayi and Nancy Nungarrayi, and her son is Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa, all extremely well known artists. It was in 1994 that saw the emergence of the Pintupi ‘painting women’ in a ‘women’s painting camp’ behind the women’s mountain at Kintore. This involved senior women from the Kintore region and their kinswomen from the Ikuntji Women’s Centre at Haast Bluff.
They are famous for their bold expressive line works and their ‘piling on’ of paint in a dense and often vibrantly coloured profusion to create some of the most radiant and richly textured surfaces ever to be seen. All her works are associated with women’s concerns and Women’s Law (Tingari Cycle). She paints traditional designs depicting sacred women’s sites and women performing sacred women’s ceremonies in the Kintore area as well as the designs that they paint on their bodies when performing ceremonies.
Naata’s artworks have been entered into the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Telstra Awards. To be selected for the Telstra Award is an enormous recognition of her work.
Generally, the Tingari are a group of mythical people who travelled over vast stretches of country, performing rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari women usually followed the Tingari men and were accompanied by novices. It is the Tingari men and women’s travels and adventures that are enshrined in a number of song cycles. It is only through initiation ceremony that Naata has permission to paint the stories that she does.
Exhibitions:
|
1997 |
Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia |
|
1999 |
Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia |
|
1999 |
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi ‘New Horizons 2000’ Melbourne, Victoria |
|
2000 |
‘Lines’, Brisbane, Queensland |
|
2000 |
Papunya Tula ''''''''''''''''Genesis and Genius'''''''''''''''', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia |
|
2000 |
17th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, NT, Australia |
|
2000 |
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
|
2000 |
''''''''''''''''Pintupi Women'''''''''''''''', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT, Australia |
|
2001 |
Palm Beach Art Fair, Palm Beach, Florida, USA |
|
2001 |
''''''''''''''''Papunya Tula 30th Anniversary Exhibition'''''''''''''''', Canberra, ACT, Australia |
|
2001 |
''''''''''''''''Pintupi Art’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia |
|
2001 |
18th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia |
|
2001 |
''''''''''''''''Kintore and Kiwirrkura'''''''''''''''', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia |
|
2001 |
''''''''''''''''Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art'''''''''''''''', Comunidad de Madrid touring exhibition, Spain |
|
2002 |
‘Paintings from our Country’, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
|
2002 |
‘Pintupi Mens’ and Womens’ Stories’, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia |
|
2002 |
19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, NT, Australia |
|
2002 |
''''''''''''''''Pintupi Artists'''''''''''''''', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia |
|
2003 |
''''''''''''''''Pintupi Art 2003'''''''''''''''', Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
|
2003 |
20th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award |
Collections:
Artbank
Art Gallery of New South Wales
National Gallery of Victoria
Museums & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Selected Biography:
Mellor D. & Megaw V., ‘Twenty Five Years and Beyond’, Papunya Tula Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Flinders Art Museum, Adelaide, SA, Flinders Press 1999
Papunya Tula ‘Genesis & Genius’ exhibition catalogue Art Gallery of NSW 2000
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