Yinarupa Gibson Nangala Paintings

About Yinarupa Gibson Nangala

Born

1961

Skin Name

Nangala

Region

Mukula/Kiwirrkurra Western Australia

Language

Pintupi

Family

Yinarupa Gibson Nangala is a Pintupi woman who was born ‘bush’ at Mukula in Western Australia in the region of today’s settlement of Kiwirrkurra. Yinarupa is variously reported to have been born around 1948 and 1961, birthing records being unavailable. It is more likely she was born in the early 1960s and is the daughter of one of Papunya Tula Artists greats, Anatjari Tjampitjinpa. Yinarupa was a co-wife of another Papunya Tula great, the late Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi. Thus, she is related by marriage into the families of George Ward Tjungurrayi and Willy Tjungurrayi. One of Yala Yala’s other wives was Ningara Napurrula. The mother of five sons, Yinarupa spends her time between her community of Kiwirrkurra and Alice Springs.

Painting Career

Yinarupa started to paint in 1996, her motherhood duties being substantially fulfilled. For some time she gained only moderate recognition for her works. It has only been in recent times that she has leapt into the public eye. In particular, 2009 saw her austere style finally recognized for what it is, classic Pintupi art at its best. It was in this year she won the General Painting Award in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands Art Awards.

Luke Scholes, Assistant Manager of Papunya Tula Artists, wrote of Yiinarupa: “There are some artists who are quite happy to allow their art to do all the talking. Yinarupa Nangala is certainly one of them; you’re more likely to get a burst of laughter or a brief tale about the recent exploits of her five equally naughty sons than a conversation. But what Yinarupa lacks in words she makes up for in talent. She has an instinctive sense of space and rhythm, with odd clusters of shape and line conspiring in her paintings to depict topographic renderings of her birthplace, Mukula.”

Country

Mukula lies in open country south-west of Jupiter Well in Western Australia. Yinarupa and her family lived and travelled throughout this region until, in 1963, they encountered a Northern Territory welfare patrol led by Jeremy Long. Yinarupa was taken to Papunya, where she attended school and subsequently married the late Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi. Here she saw the genesis of the Papunya Tula movement, and now finds herself a driving force in its future. Yinarupa is undoubtedly an artist on the cusp of something great. The earthly vibrations of Mukula hum across the surface of her paintings, inviting us to stop and listen as her stories unfold before us.”

Painting Style

Yinarupa Nangala uses a classic Pintupi style to render her paintings of her birth country at Mukula, to the south-west of Jupiter Well in Western Australia. She clearly marks the iconography of the landmarks and sites used by her people, then in-fills the remaining spaces using fine dot painting using warm, pale colours. The painting takes on a movement of its own, as the viewer’s eye shifts across the vast number of signs and markings with hundreds of shimmering dots.

Aboriginal Art Status

Aboriginal art status – Highly regarded artist.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2011    In Black & White, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2012    Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2014    Desert Song, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2014    Mini Masters: Small Works, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2014    Small Works Collection, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2019    Pintupi Artists of the Western Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2019 International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2019 Defining Tradition: the first wave & its disciples, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2020 Pintupi Masters – Enduring Dreamings, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2020 Director’s Choice 2020, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2021 50 Years of Papunya Tula Artists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

Collections

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

The Luczo Family Collection, USA

Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice

Awards

2016 33rd NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist

2015 32nd NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist

2014 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney – Finalist

2014 31st NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist

2010 Alice Art Prize, Alice Springs – Finalist and Honourable Mention

2010 Western Australian Art Prize, Perth – Finalist

2009 26th NATSIAA, Darwin – Winner General Painting Award

2009 Western Australian Art Prize, Perth – Finalist

2008 25th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist

2008 TogArt Contemporary Art Award, Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin – Finalist

Links

Wikipedia – Yinarupa Gibson Nangala