Untitled | AS-137

DOB: c. 1952 – 01/06/2013

Birthplace: Mina Mina, NT

Skin name: Napangardi/Napanangka

Language: Warlpiri

Community: Nyirripi, NT




Dorothy Napangardi is of the Warlpiri language group. She was born approximately in 1952 at Mina Mina to the west of Yuendumu in the Tanami Desert of the Northern Territory, roughly 400 km north-west of Alice Springs. Sadly, Dorothy passed away on June 1st, 2013, in a car accident. Dorothy had a very individual painting style which she developed by elaborating on the traditional designs of the Kurawarri (Dreaming). The consistently high quality of her work won her acclaim as a fine artist of distinction.

Many of Dorothy’s artworks depict parts of the Mina Mina Jukurrpa. Mina Mina is a highly significant sacred site as it is the point of origin for Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming) for not only the Warlpiri but also for the Kukuja whose traditional lands are to the west. It was at Mina Mina during the Jukurrpa (Creation Era) that digging sticks which had emerged from the earth, were taken by ancestral women as they commenced their journey along the Dreaming route traveling east. Today these digging sticks are represented by the kurrkara (desert oaks) at the site. Mina Mina consists of two large claypans with several mulju (water soakages).

Dorothy grew up in a traditional Aboriginal social environment and first encountered white society when the family walked into the pastoral station of Mt Doreen. She learnt the law and the stories associated with her country whilst walking the desert with her parents and siblings as a young girl. In turn, her five daughters learnt by watching and listening to their mother, aunties, and grandparents singing the song cycles that belong to the country she painted. Belonging to the Napangardi/Napanangka skin group, Dorothy also painted the Bush Plum Dreaming.