Wilma Poulson Napangardi

Wilma Poulson Napangardi was born in 1970 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She has a sister, Ivy, who is also an artist also working with Warlukurlangu Artists. Wilma went to the local school in Yuendumu, then to Yirara College in Alice Springs. When she finished schooling she returned to Yuendumu to live and work.

Wilma paints several dreamings, but the ones that feature constantly are the Bush Banana Dreaming depicting Vaughan Springs country and the Snake Vine Dreaming relating to Mt Theo area. These Dreamings were passed down to her by her father and his father’s father for millennia. These stories relate to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it.

Wilma paints for the Warlukurlangu Art Centre, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. Warlukurlangu is a not-for-profit organisation that has more than 600 members, all of whom are Indigenous artists. It is directed by an executive committee of eight men and eight women representing all the 'skin groups'. It meets regularly to set policy, make decisions about the organisation and direct staff.