Charlotte Phillipus Napurrula is the eldest daughter of Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, one of the founders of the desert art movement. Her mother was Long Jack’s first wife Suzette Napaltjarri, who was the daughter of important Pintupi elder Kamutu, one of the earliest Pintupi arrivals in Hermannsburg from the west.
Charlotte said she has worked since she was sixteen years old. She already had her daughter, Lyn Ward, when she first started to work. Charlotte is married to Huey Ward, with whom she also had two boys. She was for a long time active in various teaching roles in Papunya School, especially the preschool. A highly intelligent and articulate woman, she has in recent years withdrawn from these involvements because of her health, but continues her commitment to education and cultural maintenance through her involvement as a language consultant on the 4th Edition of Ken Hansen’s Pintupi/Luritja Dictionary . Huey continues to work as a grader driver. She is a grandmother of two and lives in Papunya where her father, sisters, aunty and other members of her extended family also reside.
Charlotte learnt to paint by assisting her father Long Jack on his canvases, but was busy with her teaching commitments and did not paint herself for Warumpi Arts in the 1990s and early 2000s. She has been a member of Papunya Tjupi Arts since its inception and is currently part of the corporation’s executive and a talented artist when her health and other commitments permit.
