Biography

Born around 1938 at Watulka, south of the modern Kiwirrkura community, Ningura Napurrula was married to the late Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi with whom she moved to Papunya in the early days of the settlement. In 1996 she was part of a group of elderly women from Kintore and Kiwirrkura who began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in their own right. Characteristic of her work is her use of thickly applied acrylic paint and a loose, flowing representation of the important Rockhole sites where ceremonies were performed and food and water sourced.

She participated in an initial Papunya Tula Artists exhibition in 1996 and featured in several group shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin in 1999. She had her first solo exhibition with William Mora Aboriginal Art in 2000, and participated in the impressive Kintore Women’s Painting for the Papunya Tula retrospective at the Art Gallery of NSW (1999). She later worked with a few reputable independent dealers, including Gannon House Gallery.

Ningura’s paintings are featured on an Australian stamp and she was one of the eight Aboriginal artists selected to paint the ceilings and façade for the new Musee du Quai Branly in Paris in 2006.

Collections

Art Gallery of NSW
Australian Heritage Commission
Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Holmes a Court Collection
Museum and Art Gallery of the NT National Gallery of Australia
Museum de Lyon, France.
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.