Athena Nangala Granites

Athena Nangala Granites is a successful younger generation artist from Yuendumu in Central Australia. She inherits a strong line of artistic talent including from her grandmother Alma Nungarrayi Granites and from her great grandparents Bessie Nakamarra Sims and Paddy Japaljarri Sims.

Athena was born in 1994 and has lived all her life at Yuendumu community 290 km north-west from Alice Springs. She has worked at the local art centre Warlukurlangu since 2010 and has absorbed the skills and techniques used by elder artists. Athena says “I learnt to paint by watching my mother, my sisters and my grandmother paint.”

Athena paints three major Jukurrpa or Dreaming stories, Ngapa Jukurrpa– Water Dreaming, Ngalyipi Jukurrpa– Snake Vine Dreaming and Yanjirlpirri Jukurrpa- Star or Seven Sisters Dreaming. Her use of a broad range of colours and stylistic techniques links her to the career of her grandmother Alma in developing modern interpretations of her traditional culture. Beyond her art, Athena likes to go hunting with her family seeking out honey ants, bush banana, goanna and kangaroo. Aboriginal art status – Rising Star.

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2014  Warlpiri Star Gazers, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
• 2018  Land and Sky– Warlpiri Artists of the Tanami Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle