Katherine Napaltjarri Parker Art for Sale at Auction

b. 1978 -

Katherine Napaltjarri Parker, who was born in 1978 and grew up in the remote community of Kintore in the Central Desert of Australia, is a renowned artist with a bloodline rich in outstanding traditional painters.

One of the most noted was her late grandfather the famous Benny Tjapaltjarri, who painted at Papunya Tula from the early 1970’s. Benny was the traditional owner and the keeper of the sacred site Pinpirnga.

Katherine has been painting since she was a child in the community and became part of the Papunya Tula artist collective when she was 17-years-old. In the early 2000’s Katherine’s work was represented in a Melbourne gallery. Also during this time, and now in her twenties, Katherine was one of the first artists to contribute to establishing Martu Milli in the Western Desert.

Katherine’s wealth of Dreamtime stories and knowledge was passed down to her by her mother Jilau and grandmother. The cultural importance of these stories and the traditional techniques has made Katherine’s work in the past rich with meaning and importantly continued the understanding of the desert peoples’ connection to country and the dreamtime.

However from 2007 until the beginning of 2014 Katherine stopped painting while she battled with health issues. Now with renewed hope and health Katherine has begun to paint again. Using the experiences from her personal life over the last few years and also maintaining the integrity of her deep understanding of the traditional dreamtime stories, bush medicine and the metaphysical, her style has developed and moved into exciting new territory. Her paintings maintain the integrity of the dreamtime but are told in a more deeply personal style.