Ningura Napurrula

Bring the direct testimony of a person who lived nomadically, in the Stone Age, that is to say in a time when technique played a weak role but who valued the knowledge accumulated over decades, this is where Ningura draws her energy until her death. Ningura, one of the deans of Kintore, like other artists such as Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Mrs Bennett… painted with redoubled energy while, physically, her body seemed to abandon her. Until the last moment her energy, this breath is perceptible in her compositions. No hesitation in her painting, the first draft, with motifs evoking the mother country, of which she is the spiritual guardian today, is produced like a calligraphy, to which she will return with the pointillist technique dear to aboriginal artists. Sometimes with a brush, using undiluted paint and not cleaning the brush, thus giving flat areas with beautiful material effects; most often with sticks. Ningura (born probably around 1938) was still a young woman (between 20 and 30) when she left the Gibson Desert for the first time, taken on a patrol with her husband Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi. This is her first contact with the white man. Initially, Ningura completed the pointillist background with a few canvases of her husband (helped by Yala Yala's two other wives). She did not start painting her own designs until 1996. In 1998, following the death of Yala Yala, she painted more to feed her family. In 2003, the Australian Post issued a stamp reproducing one of her works. At the same time, she was noticed at prestigious artistic awards, and her paintings were exhibited regularly in the major Western and Australian capitals. But it is above all her selection with seven other Aboriginal artists to paint part of the decorations of the Quai Branly museum in Paris that attracts attention. Since then, her notoriety and demand for her works have jumped and the Musée des Confluences de Lyon has also acquired a large format. Her artistic vision really deserves praise, because Ningura has created a personal style, marked by her white or cream backgrounds, where black and ocher form the traditional elements. She is mainly inspired by the Dreams associated with the site of Wirrulnga and Papunga, of which she paints the dunes that surround it. A large group of Women (Ancestors) from the Napaltjarri branch camped at this site before resuming their journey to Muruntji (southwest of Mount Liebig). They made ceremonial skirts that Ningura symbolized by the curved patterns. Kutungka Napanangka, an important Ancestor, has also been there. She is often considered a bit of "evil" because she has killed and eaten a lot of people. The patterns once again have a multitude of meanings. The broad bands represent both digging sticks and decorated posts for ceremonies, and they are also believed to symbolize childbirth. Ningura, exhausted, died in November 2013. Collections: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Musée du Quai Branly Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Artbank, Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, AIATSIS, architectural project of the Musée du Quai Branly, Musée des Confluences,…