| Artist Name: |
Ningura Napurrula |
| Tribe: |
Pintupi |
| Area: |
Central & Western Desert |
| Born: |
c. 1938 |
Ningura Napurrula was born at Watulka, south of Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia c.1938. She is the widow of Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi, a highly respected Pintupi elder who held significant knowledge of his countries Dreaming stories.
Ningura’s paintings depict designs associated with the rockhole sites of Palturunya and Wirrulnga, east of the Kiwirrkura Community (Mt. Webb) in Western Australia. The concentric cirlces represent rockholes and the arcs represent the higher rocky outcrops near the site. The U shapes represent women camped at the site.
Ningura depicts the mythological events of her ancestors. Her artworks focuses 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.
Exhibitions
2001 - ‘Aborigena’ at the Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, Italy
2003 - ‘Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Prague’, Toskansky Place, Prague, Czech Republic
2003 - ‘Masterpieces from the Western Desert’, Gavin Graham Gallery, London,
United Kingdom
Collections
Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
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