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WALANGKURA NAPANANGKA born c. 1946

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ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Country

Tjiturulnga, west of Kintore, Northern Territory

Language

Pintupi

Subject(s)

Women's Ceremony

 

Walangkura Napanangka was born c.1946 at Tjiturulnga, west of Walungurru (Kintore) in the far west of the Northern Territory.

Her family was among a group of Pintupi people who made their way to the Ikuntji settlement (Haasts Bluff) in 1956. They walked hundreds of kilometres from west of the salt lake of Karrkurutinjinya (Lake Macdonald) to gain access to the food and water at the settlement. The family returned to their home country community of Walungurru (Kintore) in 1981.

Walangkura began her artistic career in 1995 by participating in the collaborative canvas project 'Minyma Tjukurrpa' between the Kintore and Haasts Bluff communities. She subsequently joined and began painting with Papunya Tula Artists in 1996. She now lives at Kiwirkurra with her husband and fellow artist Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula.

Walangkura mainly depicts women's ceremony. Rock holes, sand hills and underground cave sites are also represented in her paintings.

Walangkura has exhibited extensively, including in the landmark show 'Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius' held in 2000 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

Exhibitions

2005 Papunya Tula Artists, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2005 22nd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2004 Walangkura Napanangka, Utopia Art Sydney
2004 Papunya Tula Artists 2004, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2004 Mythology and Reality - Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
2004 21st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2003 Emerge, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory
2002 Paintings from Our Country, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide
2002 Land is Life. Art from Australia, Jagdschloss Granitz, Binz, Rügen, Germany (in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer)
2001 Dreamscapes - Contemporary Desert Art, Mostings Hus, Fredriksberg, Denmark
2000 Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Selected Collections

Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands
Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Artbank, Sydney
Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Melbourne
Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
The Kelton Foundation, U.S.A.