Walangkura Napanangka:
Born: c1946
Area: Tjiturulnga, west of Alice Springs
Region: Central Desert Community
Language: Pintupi

Commonly referred to as Uta Uta Tjangala’s widow, to distinguish her from another artist of the same name- the two woman are shareholders at Papunya Tula- Napanangka was born in the mid-1940s beside a rockhole near where the Tjukurla community was later established. In her youth, she travelled with her large family group in the country between Punkilpirri near Docker River, north to Walukirritji rockhole on the south western side of Lake MacDonald. Napanangka’s family subsequently moved to Haasts Bluff settlement with other Pintupi people. Here she worked for a time in the community laundry before moving to Papunya to live with her husband Uta Uta Tjangala (c.1926-90), an original shareholder of Papunya Tula Artists and a major Pintupi painter. Walangkura first painted for Papunya Tula in 1997 while moving between Tjukurla, Kiwirrukura and Kintore, but in early 2002, spending more of her time in Kintore and Kiwirrkura, she began painting regularly.
Walangkura began her painting career through participating in the historic Kintore-Haasts Bluff collaborative canvas project 'Minyma Tjukurrpa' in 1995. Her paintings exude a powerful energy, recreating the creation stories and ceremonial sites associated with the Tjukurrpa of her Pintupi homelands.
Collectors are currently driving interest in Walangkura’s work, attracted in part by her distinctive sense of colour. She frequently paints stories of traveling female ancestors who gathered at sites with water to sing and dance and make hair-string to construct the nyimparra (hair-string skirts) worn during such ceremonies, after which the woman continued north, gathering bush tomato. In 2005, Walangkura won the Redlands Westpac Art prize and was included in the touring Luminous-Contemporary Art From The Australian Desert (2005-06). Her work is held in the National Gallery of Victoria and Artbank collections.
Walangkura Napanangka was born about 1940 in the bush at Tjiturulnga, west of Walungurru (Kintore) - in the Gibson Desert, near the Western Australia/ Northern Territory border. Her family was amongst a group of Pintupi people who made their way to the Ikuntji settlement (Haasts Bluff) in 1956. They walked hundreds of kilometres from west of the salt lake of Karrkurutinjinya (Lake Macdonald) to access the supplies of food and water on offer at the settlement. The family returned to their homelands community of Walungurru in 1981. Walangkura now resides in Kintore with her husband and fellow artist Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula. Her mother, Inyuwa Nampitjinpa and sister, Pirrmangka Napanangka, both deceased were also painters. Her father was Tutuma Tjapangati.

Top 50 Most collectable Artists Art Collector Magazine March 2007

Selected Exhibitions:
1997 - 2002 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs 1998 'Sztuka Aborygenow' - (Art of the Aborigines), Warsaw, Poland
1999 Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University, Adelaide
2001 Pintupi, Alice Springs
2000 Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius at the Art Gallery of NSW
2001 Dreamscapes - Contemporary Desert Art, Mostings Hus, Frederiksberg, Denmark
2003 Mythology and Reality, S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2003 Solo Exhibition - Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2005 Across Skin - Women Artists of the Western Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle

Awards:
2005 1st prize Redlands Westpac Art Prize

Collections:
Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands.
Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Artbank.
Gabrielle Pizzi Collection.
Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory.
The Kelton Foundation, USA.