Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri

Swamps near Nyrripi  | 90h x 144w | RK038

Not stretched or framed  |  Acrylic on linen

Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri (born c.1948- 2022) was a Walpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. She married Jack Tjampitjinpa, who became an artist working with the Papunya Tula company, and they had five children.

Ngoia painted her father's Country, which is a sacred Walpiri territory associated with narratives to the 'water snake'.

The oval shapes in Ngoia’s paintings are iconographic representations of the swamps and lakes near Nyrripi (Talarada), north west of Mount Liebig. According to the Tingari stories, this region is changed with the spiritual presence of the "water snake," which lives beneath the surface. Ngoia depicts the wet and dry characteristics of the country, like swamps, lakes and spinifex (grass). The dots in the painting represent the evaporating water and the cracks that are formed in the ground as a result.

In 2006, Ngoia was the winner of the most prestigious prize in aboriginal art, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) for a representation of Talarada.

Her work is included in the National Australian Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Australia and Artbank Sydney, amongst others. 

Please Note: This Artist passed away in 2022 and out of respect for Aboriginal culture, we have removed the photograph of this Artist holding this artwork from our website.