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Mitjili Napurrula
Biography:
Mitjili Napurrula
was born 1945, Haasts Bluff, Pintupi.
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Mitjili
Curriculum Vitae
page
265
Australian Encyclopedia Aboriginal Artists dictionary of biographies. Mitjili Napurrula is the
daughter of Tupa Tjakamarra (now deceased) and Tjunkiya Napaltjarri. She
is married to Long Tom Tjapanangka, a very well-known artist from Haasts
Bluff.
Mitjili’s brother is
the legendary Turkey Tjupurrula Tolson, a long time Papunya Tula artist. Mitjili's style has
gained her a strong following throughout the world and her work was included
in the exhibition: Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art at
the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco 1999, and featured in the prestigious
Adelaide Biennial 2000, Beyond the Pale. Mitjili was awarded the 1999 Alice
Prize at the Araluen Centre for the Arts in Alice Springs.
Mitjili commenced painting in 1993 and at first followed the
style of painting of the Papunya Tula artists from Papunya; she then
developed her own style, a simplified design
Her country is Uwalki south of Kintore. Mitjili
started painting in 1993 at the Ikuntji Women’s Centre. Mitjili’s brother is
the legendary Turkey Tjupurrula Tolson, a long time Papunya Tula artist. She
is married to Long Tom Tjapanangka. Mitjili's style has
gained her a strong following throughout the world and her work was included
in the exhibition: Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art at
the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco 1999, and featured in the prestigious
Adelaide Biennial 2000, Beyond the Pale. Mitjili was awarded the 1999 Alice
Prize at the Araluen Centre for the Arts in Alice Springs.
Mitjili
Napurrula, a Pintupi artist, since commencing painting in 1993,
she has
developed a reputation as one of the most innovative of the contemporary
Central Desert painters. Like her brother, acclaimed painter Turkey Tolsen Tjupurrula, she is a custodian of the Kulata (spear) tjukurrpa,
and she often depicts the country around Haasts Bluff (Ikunti) in the
Kintore Ranges.Mitjili Napurrula sometimes collaborates with her
husband, celebrated painter Long Tom Tjapanangka. The work of both is
characterised by bold colour and strikingly original forms. Mitjili has
developed her own iconography, in particular the repeated motif of the
trees from her father’s country, Uwalki. Mitjili Napurrula was awarded
the 1999 Alice Prize at the Araluen Centre for the Arts in Alice
Springs.
Mitjili
Napurrula comes from a family of painters. She was taught her father's
Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) by her mother, who drew images of Uwalki in the
sand (Uwalki are trees that traditionally provide wood for spears).
Napurrula has a close association with the Spear Dreaming and with the
country around Haasts Bluff near the Kintore ranges in the Northern
Territory. This country ― also called Uwalki ― is her father's country,
and features in her work and the work of her brother, the renowned
artist Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula. The most prominent theme in Napurrula's
painting concerns the watiya tjuta (trees) which relate to men's
business. Here she has primed her canvas with a black ground; the tree
motif emerges from a white veil of diluted paint created by using the
dot-dot technique. This technique gives the impression of solid colour
with the trees emerging from beneath the surface. In this sensuous work,
Napurrula has included mountain ranges and hills, both in landscape and
aerial views and, knowing her country intimately, she references the
energy of the land with ease.
EXHIBITIONS:
1993, 1994, 1996, 1998 Australian Heritage Art Award, Canberra; 1994,
1997, 1998, 1999 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs; 1994 Gallery
Gabriella Pizzi, Melbourne; 1994 Hotel Shangri-la and Australian High
Commission, Singapore; 1994, 1998 Adelaide Fringe Festival; 1994 Art
Gallery of N.S.W., Sydney; 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Museum and Art Gallery
of the Northern Territory; 1995 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne; 1995,
1997, 1999 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney; 1996 Gallery Australis, Adelaide;
1996 'The Meeting Place' - touring exhibition, Australia; 1996, 1998,
2000 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne; 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 Aboriginal Art
Gallery Bahr, Speyer, Germany; 1997 Goteborgs Konstforening, Goteborg,
Sweden; 1997 'Arnhem', The Netherlands; 1997 Alliance Francaise,
Canberra; 1998 Art Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; 1998 Spazio
Pitti Arte Florence, Italy; 1998 Framed Gallery, Darwin; 1998 Gallery
Dusseldorf, Perth; 1998 Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs; 1998 Ian Potter
Museum of Art, University of Melbourne; 1998 Niagara Galleries,
Melbourne; 1999 Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University, Adelaide; 1999
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA; 2000 Art Gallery of South
Australia, Adelaide; 2001 Galerie Knud Grothe, Charlottenlund, Denmark
AWARDS:
1997 14th
Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Art Award
the finalist; 1999
Winner of the prestigious Telstra
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Alice Prize the Central
Australian Art Award,
the Araluen Centre for the Arts in Alice Springs
Collections:
National Gallery of Australia
Canberra;
Artbank Sydney;
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney;
Art Gallery of South
Australia Adelaide;
National Gallery of Victoria
Melbourne; Art Gallery of Western
Australia Perth; Queensland Art Gallery Perth
www.qag.qld.gov.au/collection/indigenous_australian_art/mitjili_napurrula;
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide; Fine
Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA; Araluen Arts Centre, Alice
Springs; Edith Cowan University Art Collection Perth; Museum and
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Darwin;
Flinders University, South Australia; Campbelltown Regional Gallery, New South Wales;
Latrobe University Melbourne; Mornington Peninsula Gallery, Victoria; Galerie Knud Grothe Charlottenlund Denmark;
Aboriginal Art Gallery
Bahr Speyer Germany; Goteborgs Konstforening Goteborg Sweden;
Baillieu Myer, de Young
Museum, San Fransisco, USA; The Netherlands;
also private and
cooperate collections around the world.
Publications
Isaacs, J Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art , 1999,
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, USA; Art Almanac , (cover), December
1999/ January 2000.
Neale, M Yiribana: an introduction to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander collection of the AGNSW , ex.cat, 1995, Art Gallery of New
South Wales, NSW; Strocchi,M Ikuntji: Paintings from Haasts Bluff
1992-94 , 1995, IAD Press, Alice Springs, Australian North Territory. |
