Ningura Napurrula

Women's Dreaming  | 89h x 120w | RK219

Not stretched or framed  |  Acrylic on linen

Ningura Napurrula (1938-2013) was born at Watulka, south of the modern Kiwirrkura community in Western Australia, and was one of Australia’s leading indigenous artists. She was the widow of the late Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi, a highly respected Pintupi elder.

Her first contact with Western society was in 1962, when she and Yala Yala brought their family to Papunya. By 1963, they had moved permanently to the settlement. In the 1980s they then moved their family to Kintore where Ningura started helping with the background dotting on Yala Yala’s artwork, collaboration being a common practice with aboriginal artists. In 1995, as part of the Kintore/Haasts Bluff women’s painting project, she started doing her own artwork.

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 circles represent rockholes, the arcs represent the higher rocky outcrops near the site and the U shapes represent women camped at the site.

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.

Her work is represented in all Australian National galleries and in one of Europe’s most important public museums, Musee du quai Branly, Paris.

Please Note: This Artist passed away in 2013 and out of respect for Aboriginal culture, we have removed the photograph of this Artist holding this artwork from our website.