ALICE MICHAEL
NAMPITJINPA
Alice Michael Nampitjinpa was born in
1945 at Talaalpi, West of Haasts Bluff in the Northern Territory
and is now considered one of the senior Pintupi artists. She began
painting for the Ikuntji Women's Arts Centre with the Minyma
Tjukurrpa, Kintore/Haasts Bluff collaborative canvas project, as a
means of reaffirming family and country ties in the
community.
Whilst her early paintings reflected the style of the Papunya Tula
artists, often depicting their mythologies with a field of dots and
symbols, Nampitjinpa has since developed an individual expression
for her Dreaming (the abstract illustration of Indigenous
Australian oral history), which moves away from these influences
and into a more personal domain.
Nampitjinpa is well recognised for her
bold use of colour, individualistic expression and innovative
interpretations of her Dreaming. She retells her stories with
bold, colourful abstractions representing the sandhills and swamp
lands of her country. Her use of colour and palette holds special
significance as an emblem of the colours of the ochres used in
ceremonial body painting. Nampitjinpa's place of significance is
Talaalpi, a swamp near the Western Australian border, while her
Tjukurrpa (ancestral and thematic signifier) is the porcupine or
Tjilkamata. As such, her stories often interpret the myth of
the
porcupine searching for tucker or, in
turn, being the source of the bush tucker. Her work is also
heavily influenced by her involvement with community life, through
her roles as an active "dancing woman", travelling vast distances
to participate in annual ceremonies; a master craftswoman,
producing hand-spindled hairstring for ceremonies as well as
intinti necklaces; and as an active and successful hunter.
Nampitjinpa has held a number of solo shows in Melbourne and has
participated in numerous group shows in Australia and Germany,
including the touring show 'Ikuntji Tjuta', which travelled
extensively throughout Australia from 1997 - 2000. Her work is
represented in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney as well as in
the Supreme Court Collection, Darwin, Australia.
MAGDA CURTIS
NAKMARRA
Magda Curtis Nakamarra is an emerging artist from the community
of Yuendemu and is associated with the Warlukurlangu Art
Centre. Her work focuses on the representation of her
Dreaming concerned with food-gathering and the specific traits,
both real and spiritual, of local wildlife. Her collaboration with
Alice Michael Nampitjinpa in the work Water Rock Hole
Dreaming brings together the history, spirituality and
specific concerns of the communities of Yuendemu and Ikuntji.