Louisa Lawson Napaljarri Art for Sale at Auction

Painter, b. 1931 - d. 2001

Louisa Lawson Napaljarri (Pupiya) (c. 1930–2001) was a Warlpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Louisa commenced painting at Lajamanu, Northern Territory in 1986. Her work is held by the National Gallery of Victoria.

Louisa Lawson Napaljarri was born circa 1926 or 1931. The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events.

'Napaljarri' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans. Thus 'Louisa Lawson' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers.

As a child, Louisa lived around Ngarrupalya, west of Yuendumu and over three hundred kilometres north-west of Alice Springs. Her first contact with white Australians was at Alice Springs. She worked as a cook at Granites, a Northern Territory goldmine, and her daughter by one of the miners, Robyn Napurrula Green, is also an artist. Louisa herself was the sister of prominent Yuendumu artist Paddy Japaljarri Sims.

Louisa was a "senior woman in the ceremonial life of the Lajamanu community". She died in 2001.