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BORN circa 1935
REGION Yamari Western Desert
LANGUAGE Pintupi
Background
“Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa grabbed me tightly by the arm and pulled me closer to her, for an elderly woman her upper body strength is extraordinary. I was troubled by the expression on her face, she raised her eyebrow and one fierce bright eye stared up at me. As I turned to escape she pulled me even closer, began to grin and whispered softly into my ear, “Mrs Bennett, number one” – Trevor Victor Harvey.
Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa was born at Yumarra, north of the Docker River, circa 1935. She is the wife of John Bennet who also paints for Papunya Tula Artists. She was schooled in traditional culture and raised on Pitjantjatjara lands, living in the surrounding area, now known as Docker River, with her immediate family, three sisters Tjunkiya, Kayi Kayi and Edith (Imantura) and a brother John Richards. It wasn’t until her early teens that she made first contact with the “whitefella”.
Mrs Bennett is a Ngangkari (traditional healer). When she was young she began to learn song lines so important to the beliefs of her people also to the survival of her race.
She began her artistic career in the mid 1990’s and paints her mother’s dreaming site, Tjalilli rockhole near Tjukurla. Other sites she paints are Pukara and Mungkara and her favourite, Punkilpirri (Bungabiddy) the large permanent water site noth-west of Docker River, in the Walter James Range. This mysterious and alluring place is beyond most people’s comprehension. For those who live comfortably around the coast of Australia this deep unforgiving inland place is harsh, threatening and mostly dry. It is extremely beautiful. The Vast Spinifex grasslands, red sands and rugged ancient ranges were home to Mrs Bennett and her nomadic family, they hunted and gathered and listened and told stories that echo their dreamtime. Her paintings depict the stories relating to the rituals and woman’s ceremonies associated with her homelands, the gathering of traditional bush foods and topographical knowledge of the lands on which her family had lived for thousands of years.
Mrs Bennett’s striking late paintings now favour a stripped down palette, the strong black under painted contour landscape lines contrast with the deep umbers and sandy off white over painting of concentric circles.
Her later paintings depict the main rockhole site of Punkilpirri. This important rockhole is reached by walking up an ancient valley, past towering walls of rough iron laced stone until you eventually reach the crystal clear water. Punkilpirri is a rockhole site where Mrs Bennett spent much of her childhood; the cool chasm was an ideal place to seek refuge from the heat of the day and the water kept her family alive during many months when there was no rain. As a child she would explore the surrounding area with other children from the tribe, play amongst the rocks looking for bird’s nests, dig for honey ants and suck the nectar from the flowers.
When she talks about her paintings and country she becomes animated, her arms moved around her body with rhythmic gestures, her distinctive voice becomes louder and louder until her words turn into song. Those who understand her song, listen silently, intrigued, fascinated and spell bound.
They are now living at the Kintore community. Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa was named among the top 50 of Australia’s Most Collectable Artists in Australian Art Collector Issue 15 – January – March, 2001.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2006 Yawulyurru kapalilu palyara nintilpayi, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT
2006 Paintings By Papunya Tula Artists, Suzanne O’Connell Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2006 A Particular Collection, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
2006 Pintubi Dreaming, Red Dot Gallery, Singapore
2006 Land Marks, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic
2006 Across The Board, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
2004 The Inner and the Outer, Stadtgalerie Bamberg, Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany
2004 All About The Papunya, Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2004 Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2004 Works From Kintore and Kiwirrkura, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2004 Kuniya Pilkati, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic
2003 Christmas Gift Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne,
2003 Pintupi Art From The Western Desert, Indigenart, Subiaco,
2003 Aboriginal Art 2003, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Vic
2002 Next Generation – Aboriginal Art 2002, Art House Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2002 Paintings From Our country, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, SA
2002 Twenty Five Years and Beyond – Papunya Tula Painting, Academy of the Arts, University of Tasmania, Tasmania
2002 Twenty Five Years and Beyond – Papunya Tula Painting, Brisbane City Gallery, QLD
2002 Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Vic
2002 Pintupi Mens’ and Womens’ Stories, Indigenart, Subiaco, WA
2002 Pintupi Artists, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT
2001 Palm Beach Art Fair, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
2001 Art House Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2001 Papunya Tula 2001, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne,
2001 Art of the Pintupi, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, SA
2001 Papunya Tula Women, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne,
2001 Twenty Five Years and Beyond Papunya Tula Painting, The Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
2001 Indigenart, Subiaco, WA
2001 Pintupi Exhibition, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT
2001 Pintupi Women From Kintore, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane,
2001 Size Doesn’t Matter, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne,
2000 Utopia Art, Sydney, NSW
2000 Aboriginal Art, Aboriginal Art Gallerie Bahr, Speyer, Germany
2000 Aboriginal Art 2000, Scott Livesey Gallery, Armadale, Vic
2000 Papunya Tula – Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2000 17th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, NT
2000 Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2000 Pintupi Women – Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT
COLLECTIONS
Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands
Art Bank, Sydney
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Homes a Court Collection, Perth
Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Museum of Australia
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Harvey Galleries was founded by the Harvey family in 1994 with an eye to establish a dynamic and inclusive contemporary art space on the North Shore of Sydney. For almost three decades we have expanded our reach to over three gallery locations and an ever expanding stable of the best artists Australia has to offer.
Harvey Galleries acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands upon which our galleries stand. The Guringai people (Seaforth), the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation (Melbourne).
We pay our respect to Elders past and present.
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