Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri (1954–2011) was a

Pintupi The Pintupi are an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose traditional land is in the area west of Lake Macdonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia. These people moved (or were moved) into the ...

- and

Luritja The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte p ...

-speaking Aboriginal artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Her paintings are held in major collections, including the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

Life

Molly Jugadai was born around 1954 at

Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory Haasts Bluff, also known as Ikuntji, is an Aboriginal Australian community in Central Australia, a region of the Northern Territory. The community is located in the MacDonnell Shire local government area, west of Alice Springs. At the 2006 cens ...

, eldest daughter of artists Narputta Nangala and Timmy Jugadai Tjungurrayi. The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Aboriginal peoples of Australia operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events. She had a younger sister, artist

Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri (c. 1955–2008) was a Pintupi-Luritja-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region, and sister of artist Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri. Daisy Jugadai lived and painted at Haasts Bluff, Northern Terr ...

, who died in 2008. '' Napaljarri'' (in Warlpiri) or ''Napaltjarri'' (in Western Desert dialects) is a

skin name Aboriginal Australian kinship comprises the systems of Aboriginal customary law governing social interaction relating to kinship in traditional Aboriginal cultures. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Aust ...

, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the

kinship system In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

of central Australian Aboriginal peoples. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans. Thus "Molly Jugadai" is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers. She died in 2011 in

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

Art

Background

Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began when Aboriginal men at

Papunya Papunya (Pintupi-Luritja: ''Warumpi'') is a small Indigenous Australian community roughly northwest of Alice Springs (Mparntwe) in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is known as an important centre for Contemporary Indigenous Australian art, ...

began painting in 1971, assisted by teacher

Geoffrey Bardon Geoffrey Robert Bardon AM (1940, Sydney – 6 May 2003) was an Australian school teacher who was instrumental in creating the Aboriginal art of the Western Desert movement. Bardon studied law for three years at the University of Sydney, b ...

. Their work, which used

acrylic paint Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. Depe ...

s to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. The first artists, including all of the founders of the

Papunya Tula Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...

artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia to women painting. However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s large numbers of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore,

Yuendumu Yuendumu is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia, northwest of Alice Springs on the Tanami Road, within the Central Desert Region local government area. It ranks as one of the larger remote communities in central Australia, and has a t ...

, Balgo, and on the outstations, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.

Career

Western Desert artists such as Molly frequently paint particular Dreamings, or stories, for which they have personal responsibility or rights. Molly's dreamings relate to the seven Napaljarri sisters, and Kaarkurutintya (Lake Macdonald). Molly participated in a group exhibition at

Michael Eather Michael Eather (born 1963) is a contemporary Australian artist based in Brisbane, who helped found the Campfire Group, a significant cross-cultural artistic collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists. Eather grew up and was edu ...

's Fire-Works Gallery, and a solo exhibition at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

's Hogarth Gallery, both in 2004. She subsequently participated in numerous group and solo shows. One of her paintings appeared as the cover art for the 2005 monograph ''‘Peopling’ the Cleland Hills: Aboriginal history in western Central Australia, 1850–1980''. Molly played a significant role in the establishment of the

Ikuntji Artists Aboriginal Corporation Haasts Bluff, also known as Ikuntji, is an Aboriginal Australian community in Central Australia, a region of the Northern Territory. The community is located in the MacDonnell Shire local government area, west of Alice Springs. At the 2006 ce ...

, set up in the mid-1990s with the assistance of

Marina Strocchi Marina Strocchi (born 28 December 1961) is an internationally-exhibited Australian painter and printmaker whose work is held in many national collections. Strocchi is based in Alice Springs and has worked extensively with Aboriginal artists in C ...

, and she is represented by Ikuntji.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Napaltjarri, Molly Jugadai 1950s births 2011 deaths Australian Aboriginal artists Artists from the Northern Territory 20th-century Australian women artists 21st-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian painters 21st-century Australian painters Luritja people