Born in 1954 at Narwietooma Station, Ada Napaljarri and her family soon afterwards moved to Haasts Bluff, where she grew up. She is a member of the Luritja/Warlpiri language group that emerged from the mix of dialects at that settlement. Later the family moved again, to the newly established settlement of Papunya. In the early ’80s, Ada started painting at the same time as the first women to be on Papunya Tula Artists’ books as artists in their own right: Daisy Leura , Natalie Corby , Gladys Warangkula , and Ada’s mother Entalura Nangala . Like them, Ada may have learnt to paint from watching or assisting male relatives. Entalura’s husband Don Tjungurrayi , or her father’s younger brother Two Bob Tjungurrayi were both part of the new generation of painters who emerged at Papunya at the start of the ’80s. However, it was perhaps Ada’s husband Alistair, a school teacher with a keen interest in the art movement and a conviction that women were being excluded from painting, who influenced her to paint independently of Papunya Tula Artists – one of the very first women in Papunya to do so. That was in about 1982, and since then the artist has spent time living in a number of the communities included in this study while her husband was headteacher there – at Mt Allan, Lajamanu, and Willowra. It is quite possible that Ada’s interest in painting has been a factor in helping to interest people in painting at those communities also. Her heritage country is Mt Wedge (Kerrinyarra) and Ilpilli, which links her to the Warumpi Mother and Daughter Dreaming, also the Water and Women’s Dancing Dreamings from Ilpilli. She also paints Yalka (Bush Onion) Dreaming. Her sisters Nora Andy Napaljarri , now living in Alice Springs, and Emily Andy Napaljarri , who still lives at Mt Allan, also paint.
- Writers:
- Johnson, Vivien
- Date written:
- 1994
- Last updated:
- 2011
