Bush Potato | LO-215

DOB: 1924 – 12 July 2006

Birthplace: Yumurrpa country

Skin name: Napurrurla

Language: Warlpiri

Community: Lajamanu

Lorna Fencer Naparrula was a senior artist from Lajamanu, in central Northern Territory. She was born around 1924, near where the Granites mine is now situated in the Tanami Desert and is the custodian of “Yummurrpa” country and the Caterpillar and Bush Potato (Yam) Dreaming that are associated with that land.

Along with many Warlpiri people, she was forcibly taken to the government settlement of Lajamanu in 1949, 400kms north of her own country.  Despite being uprooted from her traditional land, she had an unrivalled knowledge of her tribal lore and maintained her cultural identity including the songs and dances that accompany the dreaming of her land.

She was a skilled painter of decorative body designs for ceremonies and traditionally painted on coolamons and digging sticks.  In 1986 she painted on canvas for the first time and went on to develop a rich, distinctive style. Vivid colour and liberal use of paint are signatures of her work.   She departed from the classical dot style to a free, abstract imagery, working in layers so that the most intimate aspects of her Dreaming are concealed from the observer.

Lorna gained prominence as a contemporary Aboriginal artist and is represented in International and Australian collections including the Holmes a Court Collection, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the Ganter Myer Collection among many others.

In 2007, Lorna was named as one of the 50 most collectible artist by Australian Art Collector Magazine.