WARLPIRI MASTER
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
CREDIT. Karen Brown
FOREWORD.
Mirri Leven
I first met Lily during a workshop we were conducting in Lajamanu in 2015. We visited the art centre along with a NSW-based artist to work with the Warlpiri artists on a number of colourmixing techniques and painting experiments at the request of the then Art Centre Coordinator Louisa Erglis.
All the artists got involved, using their hands, collaborating on a six metre stretch of canvas in the yard of the art centre. Lily sat to the side at her usual spot, silently working on her own canvases. There was never a question that she would be involved in the workshop. Why would she? She did not need to learn alternate techniques. She didn’t need to take my colour workshop, Lily knew exactly what she wanted to paint and how to express that. I was forever refreshing her tea and paint water in an effort to get close enough to watch her at work. She was my hero and she knew it.
She was the first artist I collected and that small 30 x 40cm artwork still sits in my heart as one of favourite works. The shifts of colour are executed with such conviction that even this predominantly white and cream paint comes to life on the canvas. The strong purposeful strokes caused the still wet paint to leak over the edges as her confident brush moves across the surface.
This exhibition is a labour of love, not just for myself but for everybody who has worked with Nungarrayi or collected her work and generously contributed to this project. The show includes paintings from multiple impassioned collectors and gallerists, while many more were more than forthcoming in sharing their personal stories and anecdotes about the universally loved and admired Warlpiri master, Lily Yirdingali Jurrah Hargraves Nungarrayi.
FOREWORD. Mirri Leven
INTRODUCTION. Samuel Sterneborg
ONE. KURLURRNGALINYPA JUKURRPA Duck Ponds Dreaming
ESSAY. Her Dreamings
TWO. NGALYIPI JUKURRPA Snake Vine Dreaming
THREE. WARDILYKA JUKURRPA Turkey Dreaming
FOUR. TUCKER
NGURLU JUKURRPA Seed Dreaming
KANTA JUKURRPA Bush Coconut Dreaming
PARRAJA JUKURRPA Coolamon Dreaming
NGARLKIRDI JUKURRPA Witchetty Grub Dreaming
FIVE. KARNTA JUKURRPA Women’s Dreaming
IN THE BEGINING. Karen Brown
INTRODUCTION. Samuel Sterneborg
By the time of her passing in 2019, Lily Yirdingali Jurrah Hargraves Nungarrayi was among the last Warlpiri people born into a traditional life on Country. In her lifetime, she had actively witnessed the many stages of dispossession and (to use the common euphemism) “relocation” of her people. First, from her ancestral home in the Tanami Desert to the 1940s-established Warlpiri settlement of Yuendumu, and, soon after, further north to the extremely remote and undeveloped town of Lajamanu, when Yuendumu’s Warlpiri population had grown beyond colonial control.
Nungarrayi first began painting in 1986 at a Traditional Painting Course. At the time, Central and Western Desert Women’s Painting was still in its infancy and the gestural expressionistic style Nungarrayi ultimately became known for was extremely rare across the spectrum. Although her earliest works utilise many of the time’s common stylistic conventions, these paintings already display the sure-handedness and confidence in composition, as well as the the artist’s innate brilliance as a colourist. As her career progressed, she developed a distinct visual language that would be adopted by many in the recording of all manner of Warlpiri Women’s Jukkurpa (Dreaming).
“At a time when many Western Desert painters have gone to an excess of tidiness, Lily Hargraves’s approach remains intractably expressionist. She works like an action painter –quickly, with whatever materials are available,including house paint and poster paints – for the Dreaming, rather than the western art market.” *
Every painting in Nungurray’s legacy seems to contain an earnest thought that a return to some dignified form of traditional life may be possible. Her painting practice was an effort toward recording a Warlpiri history that was at risk of erasure, for a Warlpiri people that, before colonisation, had had no need for a method to document its past.
From the very first works, diligently detailed and rigorously executed, to the last boldly gestural and confident masterworks, the story elements in composition remain remarkably consistent and still, somehow, as descriptive as the first. As Nungarrayi gained seniority as an artist as well as an elder, she helped create a stylistic lexicon whose influence remains unquestionable; the authority and mastery in her execution is awe striking and irreplaceable.
*quote attributed to Vivien Johnson, 1994, via Design and Art Australia Online
ONE. KURLURRNGALINYPA JUKURRPA Duck Ponds Dreaming
The “Duck Ponds Dreaming” centres on an important Dreaming site southeast of Lajamanu in Warlpiri Country. The body of water expands during the wetter months and never fully dries out. On her canvases, vibrant colours and shapes capture the seasonal transformations of the land, capturing the essence of her country.
Warnayaka Art Centre
CREDIT. Mirri Leven
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Kurlu rrngalinypa Jukurrpa (Duck Ponds Dreaming), 2011
acrylic on linen
150 x 180 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 849-11
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_18308
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Kurlu rrngalinypa Jukurrpa (Duck Ponds Dreaming), 2014
acrylic on canvas
180 x 150 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 20-13
Susan O’Connell Gallery, Qld
Private Collection, Qld
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20892
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Kurlu rrngalinypa Jukurrpa (Duck Ponds Dreaming), 2014
acrylic on linen
120 x 150 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 222-14
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_18311
ESSAY. HER DREAMINGS
Lily Yirdingali Jurrah Hargraves Nungarrayi was a senior Warlpiri law-woman, deeply initiated and knowledgable of the inherited Jukurrpa (Dreamings) that became her painting subjects. Until about 2007, when the government ruled to abolish bilingual schools in community, Nungarrayi taught Warlpiri language and dancing at the Lajamanu School. After this ruling, the artist turned to painting as the main tool of passing on her knowledge.
By design, our window into these stories is limited. Major aspects are concealed not only from non-Warlpiri viewers but also from those Warlpiri of the opposite sex or the wrong skin-group. Details may also be veiled from less-initiated Warlpiri, even if they will someday be eligible to inherit them.
This dreaming tells about a women’s ceremony. Only the women know this dreaming. It talks about travelling from north to south, east and west teaching all the young kids. They all teach people from different skin groups, so that the Dreamings are passed along to the young children. Courtesy of Warnayaka Arts
It is with this consideration that we have to approach the stories, titles, and imagery in these works. Stories can overlap and the differentiation is not necessarily black and white. Duck Ponds Dreaming
(pages xx-xx), for example, centres on Kurlurrngalinypa, an important Warlpiri sacred site in the Tanami Desert. Duck Ponds/Kurlurrngalinypa is host to important women’s ceremonies as often depicted in Nungarrayi’s Women’s Dreaming (pages 6-13).
This ceremony represents the girl’s transition from childhood into womanhood. The straight lines represent the sacred dancing sticks used during the women’s ceremonies. The large U shapes are the older women who are teaching the young girls (the smaller shaped groups) and watching over them to ensure they listen to the information being handed down to them. Courtesy of Warnayaka Arts
The difference can sometimes lie in how the depicted site is populated. U-symbols, commonly representative of women, are featured in many of these paintings, as the women are seen engaging in their traditional practices referenced by the titles. These stories often relate to the gathering of bush foods, medicine, and other life-giving sources imperative for desert survival, in which case the same stretch of Country could be populated with Bush Turkey (pages xx-xx), referenced by their tracks in the sand. Here, the sacred and the practical go hand in hand.
With the impossibility of a return to traditional life under colonial occupation, the imagery in Nungarrayi’s work acts also as a symbol of Warlpiri autonomy, representative of independence beyond the shackles of colonial “Australia”. As much as any of her peers, the legacy of Lily Yirdingali Jurrah Hargraves Nungarrayi is truly irreplaceable.
TWO. NGALYIPI JUKURRPA
Snake Vine Dreaming
This dreaming tells about a special tree that everyone uses for medicine. It helps cure aches and pains in the joints, headache and snake bites. The vine is wrapped around the head, arm or leg and is left till the pain is taken away. Ngalyipi is like the bush banana Yuparli plant, it winds around trees from ground upwards. The Ngalyipi vines has round leaves, it does not have any edible fruits, it is poisonous. The Snake Vine Ngalyipi is used for everything. It is used to put it over our water carriers to keep the water cool and keep other grass seeds out.
Warnayaka Art Centre
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on canvas
120 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 76-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20945
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming), 2010
acrylic on canvas
30 x 80 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 1279-10
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20497
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on canvas
115 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 826-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_18226
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming), 2011
acrylic on canvas
85 x 50 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 528-11
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20493
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming), 2015
acrylic on canvas
60 x 180 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 522-15
JGM Gallery, London UK
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20863
THREE. WARDILYKA JUKURRPA
Turkey Dreaming
This dreaming tells about the bush turkey. It is a big bird that flies around from place to place searching for food. They eat insects. The men hunt for the turkeys with boomerangs. The men hunt together to catch the turkeys.
Warnayayka Art Centre
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on canvas
50 x 85 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 744-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20494
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2013
acrylic on canvas
150 x 120 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 744-13
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_13914
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2013
acrylic on canvas
60 x 180 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 591-13
JGM Gallery, London UK
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20862
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2013
acrylic on canvas
180 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 20-13
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_13993
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2010
acrylic on canvas
180 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 784-10
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20946
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2015
acrylic on canvas
120 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 303-15
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_18228
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2014
acrylic on canvas
120 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 568-14
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20943
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2013
acrylic on canvas
80 x 30 cm
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 143-13
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_13912
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on canvas
80 x 30 cm
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 470-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_16412
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Wardilyka Jukurrpa (Turkey Dreaming), 2015
acrylic on canvas
80 x 30 cm
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 99-15
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20498
TUCKER DREAMING
KANTA JUKURRPA Bush Coconut PARRAJA JUKURRPA Coolamon
YAWAKIYI JUKURRPA Bush Plum
NGURLU JUKURRPA Seed NGARLKIRDI JUKURRPA Witchetty Grub
KANTA JUKURRPA This Dreaming is about the bush coconuts that grow in trees like gum trees. They are found mainly in the dry season and are good to eat. They have a very hard shell and need to be cracked open. Sometimes there is a small grub inside that we also eat.
NGARLKIRDI JUKURRPA This Dreaming tells of the hunt for witchetty grubs. Witchetty grubs are found all over our country. They are found in the ground and in tree trunks. The women dig them out and place them in their coolamons. When they return to camp they cook them in the coals of the fire.
NGURLU JUKURRPA This Dreaming tells about the special seeds used for grinding and making powder. The women add water to make a special damper. They put the damper in the coals for cooking. There are many different seeds we collect.
YAWAKIYI JUKURRPA This Dreaming plays an important part in Warlpiri Dreaming and ritual practices involved in Yilpinji, Love Magic. When a girl falls in love she goes to her female relatives and is instructed in how to attract her man as a lover. She weaves a belt out of hair while singing Yilpinji songs imbuing the belt with magic. When the man approaches she entices him with her charms until he comes under the influence of her allure. She reveals the belt as his ardour grows and persuades him to place the belt around her waist. As he does, he falls under her spell and they go off together as a couple. Together they eat bush plums and hunt for food. Other important Warlpiri, on learning of their tryst, follow them and confront them as a couple and also eat the bush plums. In this way the group recognizes their relationship and acknowledges that it is an appropriate match. They are now recognized by all as a couple.
(From love… art & ceremony Yilpinji Christine Nicholls)
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngarlkirdi Jukurrpa (Witchetty Grub Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on canvas
120 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 419-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20944
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngarlkirdi Jukurrpa (Witchetty Grub Dreaming), 2009
acrylic on canvas
85 x 50 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 1498-09
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20496
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngarlkirdi Jukurrpa (Witchetty Grub Dreaming), 2015
acrylic on linen
120 x 150 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 605-15
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_18309
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Kanta Jukurrpa (Bush Coconut Dreaming), 2013
acrylic on canvas
85 x 50 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT CAt No. #951-13
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20900
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngarlkirdi Jukurrpa (Witchetty Grub Dreaming), 2013
acrylic on canvas
50 x 85 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 195-13
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20492
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Parraja Jukurrpa (Coolamon Dreaming), 2015
acrylic on canvas
60 x 180 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 111-15
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20942
KARNTA JUKURRPA women’s dreaming
This dreaming tells about a women’s ceremony. Only the women know this dreaming. It talks about travelling from north to south, east and west teaching all the young kids. They all teach people from different skin groups, so that the dreamings are passed along to the young children. (Warnayaka Art Centre)
Warlpiri have 16 skin names in their “skin system”. This is a name predetermined by the skin names of the prior generation. Warlpiri also organise themselves into 4 groups, where 4 skin names will group together. This organisation of peoples is used in ceremony and in law and is practised in all important decision-making processes still today. In this work, Nungarrayi has depicted 16 groups of ladies at ceremony. (Page 50-51)
This painting depicts a young girls initiation ceremony. There are eight female kinship groups in the Australian desert. The artist is a senior elder of the Nungarayi kinship group. All Nungarayi daughters are Napaltjarri’s. During this special time, the older women of the Nungarayi and Napaltjarri skin groups pass sacred information to the young women of the tribe. This ceremony represents the girl’s transition from childhood into womanhood. The straight lines represent the sacred dancing sticks used during the women’s ceremonies. The large U shapes are the older women who are teaching the young girls (the smaller shaped groups) and watching over them to ensure they listen to the information being handed down to them.
This ceremony takes place each year at an isolated women’s Dreaming site called Duck Pond in the Northern Territory. Duck Ponds is a sacred site situated 100kms south east of Lajamanu. The area becomes rich in water and bird life with the onset of rain.
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on linen
150 180 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 263-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_10741
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on linen
60 x 180 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 816-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20502
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2015
acrylic on canvas
180 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 520-15
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20940
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2010
acrylic on canvas
180 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 800-10
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20864
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2013
acrylic on canvas
85 x 50 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. #359-13
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20901
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2012
acrylic on canvas
50 x 85 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 856-12
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20490
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2009
acrylic on canvas
120 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 1496-09
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20947
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 2010
acrylic on canvas
120 x 60 cm
PROVENANCE
War nayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. 1111-10
Art Leven , Redfern, Gadigal Cat No. al_20501
IN THE BEGINING.
Karen Brown
“I was taken by the powerful art of Lily Hargraves Nungarrayi in the early 1990s as a young gallerist in Darwin. Her painting, Women’s Dreaming, 1990 was the first acrylic work I personally purchased … three decades later it has not diminished. Today, the painting is as enticing and fresh as the moment Lily rolled out her paintings to share on the wooden floor at Old Admiralty House, Darwin. The portrayal of her ritual life and the vitality of her personality helped see her move from this tight-dotted style to a more free brushstroke. A captivating artist who always immersed herself in the creative process and can be called a true innovator of the Desert art movement.”
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 1990
acrylic on canvas
137 x 92 cm
PROVENANCE
Warnayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. #56
Karen Brown Gallery, NT Cat No. KB0851
Art Leven, Redfern, Gadigal
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming), 1992
acrylic on canvas
120 x 83 cm
PROVENANCE
Warnayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. #1129 (#523)
Karen Brown Gallery, NT Cat No. KB0845
Art Leven, Redfern, Gadigal
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), 1993
acrylic on canvas
132 x 109 cm
PROVENANCE
Warnayaka Art Centre, NT Cat No. #229 (#753)
Karen Brown Gallery, NT Cat No. KB0850
Art Leven, Redfern, Gadigal
ARTIST CV & BIO.
LILY YIRDINGALI JURRAH HARGRAVES NUNGARRAYI
(1930 - 2019)
Lily Hargraves Nungarrayi was one of the old desert walkers, born in the Tanami Desert in her country near Jilla Well (Chilla Well). When, in 1950, the Warlpiri population at Yuendemu had outgrown the settlement’s housing capabilities, Nungarrayi moved to the settlement of Lajamanu along with 1000 others. A tiny, very isolated point in the north of the Warlpiri estate, ten hour’s drive south of Darwin and eight hours north-west of Alice Springs. Here, Nungarrayi resided until her death in 2019.
1986 saw the first painting workshop for female artists in the Lajamanu community. Quickly, she established herself as a central figure of the newly established painting movement. Deeply involved in women’s ceremonial practice and traditional law, Nungarrayi divided her time between hunting bush food and her daily work at the Warnayaka Art Centre, where the senior women chanted sat cross-legged on the canvas chanting their songlines as they painted their Dreaming stories.
She painted with a restricted palette during the 1980s, depicting detailed ceremonial activities. As time progressed however, her work evolved into the highly colour charged and gestural style she is known and recognised for today.
Nungarrayi became an esteemed senior Law woman, responsible for supervising women’s song and dance ceremonies. She was driven in her fervour to record and preserve her culture. Her love of colour and freedom of expression resulted in a distinctive style, executed with bold, confident brush work and a broad range of colour on minimal ground layers.
Her remarkable works are included in the collections of important private and museum collections throughout Australia, USA and Europe.
Judith Ryan, who was at the time the curator of A boriginal Art for the National Gallery of Victoria, visited Lajamanu ahead of the exhibition ‘Paint Up Big’ in 1990.
For the NGV, Ryan procured a set of pastels by the older women from the walls of the school library. When the paintings were taken down to be packed, Nungarrayi started tearing hers apart – “That one’s rubbish, I’m going to do you another one now.” The other ladies attempted to wrestle it from her. But Lily did not want what she regarded as her weak early work appearing in the National Gallery.
‘She’s a little person with a fiery temperament. She’s called Glurpunta, which means “fighting spirit”’. (personal communication by Christine Nicholls, headmistress at Lajamanu School in the 1980s, see Paint Up Big (Judith Ryan, NGV, 1990).
COMMUNITY
Tanami Desert Lajamanu, NT
OUTSTATIONx
LANGUAGE
ART CENTRE
Warnayaka Art Centre REGION
Kurlurrngalinypa, from the Granites to Jila
Warlpiri
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Aamu - Museum Of Contemporary Aboriginal Art, The Netherlands Collection Roemer, Germany
Museum & Art Gallery Of Northern Territory, NT National Gallery Of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic United Nations, Darwin, NT Peter Boehm Collection, Sydney, NSW
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1990 Paint Up Big: Warlpiri Women’s Art of Lajamanu, National Gallery of Victoria
1991 Crumlin, R.,(Ed.),1991, Aboriginal Art & Spirituality, Colins Dove, North Blackburn, Victoria
1991 Glowczewski, B. 1991, Yapa, Peintres Aborigenes De Balgo Et Lajamanu
1994 Lebon Gallery, Paris, Johnson, V.,1994
2004 The Dictionary Of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, NSW
2000 “Journeylines” M.stanislawska-Birnberg, JB Books
Australia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 Colour Power 22, JGM Gallery, London
2020 Reflection, JGM Gallery, London
2018 Make Me a Sacrifice, JGM Gallery, London
2019 Kitty Simon and the Ladies of Lajamanu, Cooee Art Paddington, Sydney, NSW
2017 Earth, Wind, and Fire, Griffin Gallery, London
2012 Touch The Ground – Brits Art, Germany
Galerie Yapa Paris, France
2011 Warnayaka Jukurrpa, Merenda Gallery, Perth, WA
2010
Desert Art: Collection 2010, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2008 Summer Show, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2005 Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony, Galerie DAD Mantes-la-Jolie, France
Across Skin- Women Artists of the Western Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2001 Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
2000 Lajamanu Warlpiri Artists, Yuwayi Gallery, Sydney (Olympic Games exhibition), NSW
1996 The Meeting Place, Touring Exhibition, Australia 1994 Yapakurlangu Wirrkardu, Batchelor College, Tennant Creek, NT
Australian Aboriginal Art, Dettinger Mayer Gallery, Lyon and Toulouse, France
1993 10th NATSIAA Telstra Art Awards, Museum & Art Gallery of NT, Darwin, NT
1991 Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court, Canberra, ACT
Ngurra Mala, les lieux du Reve, Ecole des beaux-arts, Grenoble, France
Aboriginal Art, Australian Embassy, Washington, USA
Yapa, Peintres Aborigenes de Balgo et Lajamanu, Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris
1990 Lajamanu Dreamings, Technical and Further Education College, Darwin, NT
Lajamanu Paintings, Shades of Ochre Gallery, Darwin, NT
Paint Up Big: Warlpiri Women’s Art of Lajamanu, National Gallery of Victoria, Vic
1989 Lajamanu Painters, Dreamtime Gallery, Perth, WA
1987 Australian Made, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
SPECIAL THANKS.
Artists and friends at the Warnayaka Art Center
Louisa Erglis
Karen Brown
Vivien Anderson
Jennifer Maraldy from JGM gallery
Bim Bam Gallery
Japingka Gallery
And finally Lily herself for her continued inspiration
