Walangkura Napanangka Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1940 - d. 2014

Walangkura Napanangka was born about 1940 in the bush at Tjiturulnga, west of Walungurru (Kintore), in the Gibson Desert, near the Western Australia/ Northern Territory border. Her family was amongst a group of Pintupi people who made their way to the Ikuntji settlement (Haasts Bluff) in 1956. They walked hundreds of kilometres from west of the salt lake of Karrkurutinjinya (Lake Macdonald) to access the supplies of food and water available at the settlement. The family returned to their homelands community of Walungurru in 1981.

Walangkura lived the latter part of her life in Kintore with her husband and fellow artist Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula. Her mother, Inyuwa Nampitjinpa and sister, Pirrmangka Napanangka, both deceased were also painters. Her father was Tutuma Tjapangati.

As an Aboriginal artists, Walangkura began her painting career through participating in the historic Kintore-Haasts Bluff collaborative canvas project ‘Minyma Tjukurrpa’ in 1995. Her paintings exude a powerful energy, recreating the creation stories and ceremonial sites associated with the Tjukurrpa of her Pintupi homelands.

Japingka Gallery has exhibited the work of Walangkura Napanangka over many years including the exhibitions:

2008 Women’s Law
2006 Luminaries of the Desert
2005 Across Skin-Women Artists of the Western Desert

A selection of paintings by Walangkura Napanangka is available from Japingka Gallery, where collectors can buy Aboriginal art online with certainty of quality, authenticity and provenance of art works.