Dorothy Napangardi
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Napangardi is a distinguished contemporary Indigenous Australian art
ist from Mina Mina. She is one of around 3,000 Warlpiri
speakers who live in or are originally from the Tanami Desert
region of Central Australia
.
Dorothy Napangardi is an Indigenous Australian
, born circa 1952 or 1956. grew up in the settlement town of Yuendumu, where her father is still a senior lawgiver. She had little formal schooling, but was instructed in the historic Dreaming
of her people. 'Dreaming' is an imprecise English translation of the Warlpiri word 'Jukurrpa', which describes the origins and journeys of ancestral beings in the land, and identifies the sacred places where the spirits reside. The Jukurrpa theme, generally, is one of the inseparability of the self from the environment and usually includes travelling across the land. These are notions than can also be found in Napangardi's art, with its profusion of intersecting lines suggesting spiritual meaning and evocative depth. In the words of a Warlpiri speaker quoted in a catalogue of Napangardi’s work: “To me, Dorothy’s work is like Yapa (people) running through and across their country, moving across their pathways when they go travelling.”
A highly informative catalogue, 'Dancing Up Country. The Art of Dorothy Napangardi', was published in 2002 in conjunction with a major exhibition of her paintings at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
. In it, Aboriginal art expert Christine Nicholls writes that “Dorothy Napangardi’s success as an artist lies in her ability to evoke a strong sense of movement on her canvases, an effect she achieves because of her remarkable spatial sense and compositional ability... [Her work] can be appreciated on multiple levels”, though indigenous commentators tend to see painting as “a stage for human activity, rather than seeing the geometric aspects of the work.”
In 2001 Napangardi won first prize in the 18th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
for her work Salt on Mina Mina, after winning lesser prizes in the same festival in 1991 and 1999. She has had many exhibitions in Australia
and was shown in 2001 at the Sammlung Essl Museum in Vienna, Austria. In 2004 US-based Crown Point Press published a series of her prints and exhibited her paintings and prints in its gallery in San Francisco. The Hosfelt Gallery in San Francisco exhibited her paintings in 2005. Napangardi’s work is found in many museums and collections worldwide, such as: the Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, CA, USA; the Kaplan-Levi Collection, Seattle, USA; the Vroom Collection, The Netherlands; the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, Germany; the National Gallery of Australia
, Canberra
; the Art Gallery of South Australia
, Adelaide
, Queensland Museum
, Brisbane
. She is represented by Gallery Gondwana in Alice Springs and Sydney
. She lives and works in Alice Springs.
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians. It is generally regarded as beginning with a painting movement that started at Papunya, northwest of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in 1971, involving artists such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri...
ist from Mina Mina. She is one of around 3,000 Warlpiri
Warlpiri
The Warlpiri are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak the Warlpiri language. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land in Australia's Northern Territory, north and west of Alice Springs...
speakers who live in or are originally from the Tanami Desert
Tanami Desert
The Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia situated in the Northern Territory. It has a rocky terrain with small hills. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored until well into the twentieth century...
region of Central Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Dorothy Napangardi is an Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
, born circa 1952 or 1956. grew up in the settlement town of Yuendumu, where her father is still a senior lawgiver. She had little formal schooling, but was instructed in the historic Dreaming
Dreaming (spirituality)
The Dreaming is a common term within the animist creation narrative of indigenous Australians for a personal, or group, creation and for what may be understood as the "timeless time" of formative creation and perpetual creating....
of her people. 'Dreaming' is an imprecise English translation of the Warlpiri word 'Jukurrpa', which describes the origins and journeys of ancestral beings in the land, and identifies the sacred places where the spirits reside. The Jukurrpa theme, generally, is one of the inseparability of the self from the environment and usually includes travelling across the land. These are notions than can also be found in Napangardi's art, with its profusion of intersecting lines suggesting spiritual meaning and evocative depth. In the words of a Warlpiri speaker quoted in a catalogue of Napangardi’s work: “To me, Dorothy’s work is like Yapa (people) running through and across their country, moving across their pathways when they go travelling.”
A highly informative catalogue, 'Dancing Up Country. The Art of Dorothy Napangardi', was published in 2002 in conjunction with a major exhibition of her paintings at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world...
. In it, Aboriginal art expert Christine Nicholls writes that “Dorothy Napangardi’s success as an artist lies in her ability to evoke a strong sense of movement on her canvases, an effect she achieves because of her remarkable spatial sense and compositional ability... [Her work] can be appreciated on multiple levels”, though indigenous commentators tend to see painting as “a stage for human activity, rather than seeing the geometric aspects of the work.”
In 2001 Napangardi won first prize in the 18th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award is one of the most prestigious art awards in Australia. Established in 1984 by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and awarded annually, it is sponsored by Telstra, so is commonly known as the Telstra Award.Prize-winners...
for her work Salt on Mina Mina, after winning lesser prizes in the same festival in 1991 and 1999. She has had many exhibitions in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and was shown in 2001 at the Sammlung Essl Museum in Vienna, Austria. In 2004 US-based Crown Point Press published a series of her prints and exhibited her paintings and prints in its gallery in San Francisco. The Hosfelt Gallery in San Francisco exhibited her paintings in 2005. Napangardi’s work is found in many museums and collections worldwide, such as: the Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, CA, USA; the Kaplan-Levi Collection, Seattle, USA; the Vroom Collection, The Netherlands; the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, Germany; the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
; the Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
The Art Gallery of South Australia , located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in Adelaide, is the premier visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of over 35,000 works of art, making it, after the National Gallery of Victoria, the largest state...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Queensland Museum
Queensland Museum
The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland. The museum currently operates four separate campuses; at South Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Townsville.The museum is funded by the State Government of Queensland.-History:...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. She is represented by Gallery Gondwana in Alice Springs and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. She lives and works in Alice Springs.