Ningura Napurrula was born at Watulka around 1938, south of the Kiwirrkura Community, near Alice Springs. She was married to the late Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi and was amongst those Pintupi people who walked into Papunya in the early years of settlement.

In 1996 she was part of a group of elderly women from Kintore and Kiwirrkura who began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in their own right. Characteristic of her work is a strong dynamism and rich linear design-compositions created with heavy layers of acrylic paint.

She participated in an initial Papunya Tula Artists exhibition in 1996 and featured in several group shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin in 1999. She had her first solo exhibition with William Mora Aboriginal Art in 2000, and participated in the Kintore Women's Painting for the Papunya Tula retrospective at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Her late husband Yala Yala was one of the original artists who started the Papunya Tula Art movement in the early 1970's, he has painted many masterpieces and on some occasion Ningura was apprenticed by Yala Yala and allowed to dot in the background. Ningura observed the artists in Papunya work on large paintings and listened to them discussing the importance of the story layout. In the early 1990's Ningura started painting her own paintings, remembering the teaching of the old men and the importance of the layout of the story. Ningura paints the mythological events of her Ancestors. Her artworks focus on the travels of her female Ancestors, the sacred sites that they passed, and the mythological significance of the bush tucker that they collected. These travels and rituals help to explain contemporary customs and the ceremonial lives of these Pintupi women.

Ningura Napurrula has exhibited extensively within Australia and internationally including in Aborigena at the Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, Italy (2001); Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Prague, Toskansky Place, Prague, Czech Republic (2003); and Masterpieces from the Western Desert, Gavin Graham Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2003). Her work is represented in the following Collections: the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra; the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Australia Post Stamps used one of her images in 2002 for a $1.10 stamp. The set of four stamps were titled Art of Papunya Tula. Ninguras design for this painting is associated with the rock hole site of Walyuta, southwest of Mantati Outstation, about 70 km west of the Kintore Community. The roundel is the rock hole and the lines are the sand hills surrounding the area. In mythological times, an old woman passed through this site during her travels towards the east. This old woman is said to be a 'bit of a devil-devil' as she kills and eats people.

Collections

Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2005
Pintupi Women', Indigenart, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Papunya Tula Artists', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Papunya Tula - Selected Paintings', William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Depth Of Field-Anamorphosis, Utopia Art Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

2004
Works from Kintore and Kiwirrkura', Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Papunya Tula Artists - 2004', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Pintupi Artists', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
Mythology & Reality', Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

2003
Recent Paintings By The Women Artists Of Kintore And Kiwirrkura', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Prague', Toskansky Palace, Praha 1, Czech Republic.
Pintupi Art From The Western Desert', Indigenart, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Masterpieces From The Western Desert', Gavin Graham Gallery, London, United Kingdom.

2002
Pintupi Artists', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
Pintupi Mens and Womens' Stories', Indigenart, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Art Born Of The Western Desert', Framed Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Saluting Papunya', Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
The Redlands Westpac Art Prize', Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia.
Pintupi Artists', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.

2001
Musee des Beaux Arts et d'Archeologie de Vienne, France.
Papunya Tula 2001', William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Art of the Pintupi', Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
'Papunya Tula Women', William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Aboriginal Art 2001', Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Six Painters From Papunya Tula Artists', Utopia Art, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Papunya Tula 30th Anniversary Exhibition', Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Indigenart, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia.
The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
Pintupi Exhibition', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
Kintore and Kiwirrkura', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Museum', Utopia Art Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

2000
Framed Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Pintupi Women', Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.

1999
Utopia Art Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, New Horizons 2000, Melbourne, Vic. Australia.
Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd. Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.