Naata Nungurrayi


Born:       	c. 1932 
State:      	WA, NT 
Region:     	Western Desert 
Community:  	Kintore 
Outstation: 	Kiwirrkura, Lake Mackay, Karkun, Kilpiny 
Language:   	Pintupi 
Social Affiliation:	Nungurrayi subsection 

Medium:     	Acrylic paint on canvas 
Subjects: 	Tingari, Women Ceremonies


Collections:
Artbank. 
Art Gallery of New South Wales. 
National Gallery of Victoria. 
Museums & Act Galleries of the Northern Territory. 
Australian institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 



Exhibitions:
1997 The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, 
      Northern Territory, Australia. 
1997 Chapman Gallery, Manuka. Canberra, ACT. Australia. 
1999 Utopia Art, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 
1999 Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Pafk, South 
      Australia, Australia. 
1999 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 
1999 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, 'New Horizons 2000', Melbourne, 
      Victoria, Australia. 
2000 'Lines', Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 
2000 'Aboriginal Art 2000' Scott Livesey Art Gallery, Armadale, 
      Victoria. Australia. . 
2000 Papunya Tula 'Genesis and Genius', Art Gallery of New South 
      Wales, Sydney, Australia. 
2000 17th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, 
      Darwin, NT, Australia. 
2000 Framed Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. 
2000 Gallery Gabriefle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 
2000 'Pintupi Women', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northem 
      Teffitory, Australia. 
2001 Palm Beach Art Fair, Palm Beach, Florida, USA. 
2001 Art House Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales. Australia. 
2001 'Art of the Pintupi'. Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, 
      South Australia, Australia, 
2001 'Aboriginal Art 20O1, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, 
      Victoria. Australia. 
2001 'Papunyo Tula 30th Anniversary Exhibition', Chapman Gallery, 
      Canberra, ACT, Australia. 
2001 Indigenart, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia. : 
2001 'Pintupi Exhibition', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, 
      Northern Territory, Australia. 
2001 18th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, 
      Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. 2001 'Kintore and Kiwirrkura', 
      Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 
2001 'Museum', Utopia Art, Sydney, New South Wales, Austratia. 
2001 'Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art', Comunlidad de 
      Madrid touring exhibition, Spain. 
2002 'Next Generation - Aboriginal Art 2002' Art House Gallery, 
      Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2002 'Paintings From Our Country', Tony 
      Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, SA, Australia. 
2002 'Pintupi Mens' and Wornens' Stories', Indigenart, Sublaco, 
      Western Australlia, Australia. 
2002 'Art Born Of The Western Desert', Framed Gallery, Darwin, Northern 
      Territory, Australia. 
2002 'Saluting Papunya', Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital 
      Territory, Australia. 
2002 19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art 
      Award, Darwin, NT Australia. 
2002 'Pintupi Artists', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern 
      Territory, Australia. 
2003 'Pintupi Art 2003', Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, 
      South Australia, AustraIia. 



Select Bibliography:
Mellor D. & Megaw V. Twenty-Five Years and Beyond, Papunya Tula Paintings, 
exhibition catalogue, Flinders Art museum, Adelaide, South Australia, 
Australia, Flinders Press, 1999. 

'Aboriginal Art 2000' exhibition cat. Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, 
Vic, Australia, 2001. 

Papunya Tula 'Genesis and Genius', exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of 
NSW, Australia, 2000. 

'Aboriginal Art 2001' exhibition cat. Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, 
Vic, Australia, 2001.


© Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian 
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies





Notes:
Naata Nunigurrayi was born at the site of Kumil, which is west of 
the Pollock Hills in Westem Australia, c.1932. She came into 
Papuunya with her family on one of Jeremy Long's government patrols. 
Naata began painting for the company in early 1996, her son is 
Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa also a well known artist. In 1999 
Naata contributed to the Kintore womens' painting as part of the 
Western Desert Dialysis Appeal.

Naata is the sister of George Tjungurrayi and Nancy Nungurrayi, 
both highly sought after artists. It was in 1994 that saw the 
emergence of the Pintupi 'painting women' in a "women's painting 
camp behind the women's mountain at Kintore involving senior 
ceremonial women from the Kintore region and their kinswomen from 
the Ikuntji Women's Centre at Haast Bluff.

They are famous for their bold expressive line works and then 
'piling on' of paint in a dense and often vibrantly coloured 
profusion to create some of the most radiant and richly textured 
surfaces ever to be seen. Naata Nungurrayi from the Pintubi 
Language group from Kintore is one of the leading Kintore women 
artists & is in her 70's. A respected senior elder whose artwork 
is sought after by collectors worldwide. All her works are associated 
with women's concerns and Women's Law (Tingari cycle). She paints 
traditional designs depicting sacred women's sites and women 
performing sacred women's ceremonies in the Kintore area as well 
as the designs that they paint on their bodies when performing ceremonies.

Generally, the Tingari are a group of mythical characters of the 
Dreaming who travelled over vast stretches of the country, performing 
rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari women 
usually followed the Tingari men and were accompanied by novices. 
It is the Tingari men and women's travels and adventures that are 
enshrined in a number of song cycles. It is only through initiation 
ceremony that Nancy has permission to paint the stories that she does.

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