Artist: Makinti Napanangka

Size: 970mm x 1250mm

Medium: Acrylic on Linen

Area: Walungurru (Kintore) NT

Language: Warlpiri

Makinti Napanangka was born in 1930 in the area of Karrkurritinytja (Lake MacDonald) region of Central Australia. She moved to Haasts Bluff with her husband where she lived until Papunya was established in 1960. Makinti began painting in 1993 when she participated in the Kintore/Haasts Bluff collaborative canvas project ‘Minyma Tjukurrpa’ under the guidance of Marina Strocchi, the art coordinator at Haasts Bluff. The interest in Pintupi women’s art arose in the mid-1990s quite late in the history of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement. It was in 1996 that Makinti Napanangka, along with her cousin and painting companion, Tatali Nangala, began painting for Papunya Tula Artists. Makinti Napanangka’s paintings often consist of interwoven, lightly coloured lines which represent the hairstring skirts of the ‘Kungka Kutjarra’ or Two Women who feature prominently in Pintupi ancestral stories. These hairstring skirts are worn by Pintupi women in their ceremonies when they reaffirm these mythological stories through dance and song. While most of Makinti's imagery is related to the Kungka Kutjarra it can also refer to the Kuningka - the western quoll - which is represented by circles. Makinti Napanangka was selected for inclusion in the retrospective exhibition Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2000. Since then she has had four solo exhibitions and in 2003 she was a finalist in the esteemed Clemenger Art Award held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. In the January 2003 issue of Australia Art Collector, Makinti was named among the top 50 of Australia’s Most Collectable Artists. Bundarra Gallery would like to congratulate Makinti Napanangka from Kintore who was awarded the coveted Telstra Award at the 25th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2008). The work selected by the judges Hetti Perkins and Judy Watson depicts ceremonies at her beloved Lupul, a rockhole site south west of Kintore in the Northern Territory.