Narputta Nangala

b. 1933, Karrkurutinytja, Western Australia

Narputta Nangala was born in 1933 at Karrkurutinytja in the Lake MacDonald region of Western Australia and moved to Haasts Bluff when she was a young girl. She was one of the founding members of the Ikuntji Women’s art movement, when the Women’s Arts Centre was established in 1992. Narputta Nangala’s early works showed the influence of her husband, Timmy Tjungurrayi Jugudai, through the fine dot work that is typical of the Papunya style. Her art has developed markedly through the years, not only in the intricacy of the composition, but through the addition of figurative elements. Narputta Nangala uses linear designs, a restricted palette and strong organic forms to depict the fecundity and spirituality inherent in the landscape. Her aerial views of important sacred places are imbued with a powerful, earthy passion and dedication to narrative story telling, as well as reaffirmations of significant ancestral themes.

From the commencement of her career, Narputta Nangala attracted attention, and was awarded the 1993 Northern Territory Women’s Fellowship and also the 1997 National Aboriginal Art Award. She has exhibited in international exhibitions such as Australia Now: Contemporary Aboriginal Art held at the Groninger Museum in Groningen in The Netherlands in 1995, Voices of the Earth at the Seoul Arts Centre, Korea in 1996 and Ikuntji – Stories from the Red Land at Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, United Kingdom in 2004.  In 1997 she had her first solo exhibition at Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi. Narputta Nangala is represented in the following Collections: the Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Artbank, Sydney; the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; the Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, United States of America; and the Gantner Myer Collection, Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco, United States of America.