Narputta Nangala Jugadai was born circa 1933 at Kaakurutinytja (Lake MacDonald). When very young, she lived a nomadic lifestyle with her Pintupi family. Her father, Tjalakuny, brought Narputta and her brother in from the desert to Haast Bluff then left and returned to the nomadic life. After schooling at jay Creek, Naputta went through a period of interaction with missionaries, stockmen and government staff. She worked herding animals and moved large groups of goats and camels from Jay Creek to Haasts Bluff where she witnessed successive groups of ‘bush Pintupi’ coming in from the desert ill and weak. Many did not survive. Subsequently, she took on the job of cook for the community.

At this time, a number of other key figures who settled at Haasts Bluff, including Long Tom Tjanpanangka, were working as stockmen. She recalls : “When I used to bring in the cattle for yarding, we would cook damper and open tinned meat for them … People came in from the bush and passed away here but I continued cooking and gave it to those who were ill.”

Narputta’s husband, Timmy Jugadai, was head stockman during his early period of the Haasts Bluff cattle industry. Perhaps as a result of this history of leadership, Narputta has a strong personality and dominant position among the artists on the community. Her work is bold and confident. She was one of the first female artists to commence solos painting, assisting her husband prior to that who painted for Papunya Tula Artists in the 1970’s. Her brothers Riley Major and George Tjangala are also prominent artists.

Narputta Nangala Jugadai was the winner of the prestigious National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 1997. Her work is held by major Australian art galleries and museums and has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally.

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Australia

National Gallery of Victoria

Queensland Art Gallery

Art Gallery of South Australia

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

Ballieu Myer Collection, de Young Museum, San Francisco

Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands

Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, USA

Gabrielle Pizzi Collection

EXHIBITIONS

1997 Narputta Nangala Kutju, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

1999 Narputta Nangala (with Alice Nampitjinpa), Gallery Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

1993 10th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

24th Alice Prize, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, Australia

Art Cologne, Koln, Germany

Australian Heritage Commission. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australia

Northern Territory Art Award, Alice Springs, Australia

1994 11th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

25th Alice Springs Art Prize, Alice Springs, Australia

Australian Heritage Commission. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra,

Australia Ikuntji Artists from Haasts Bluff, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

Ikuntji: Paintings from Haasts Bluff 1992-1994, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

Northern Territory Art Award, Alice Springs, Australia

The Australian High Commission and Hotel Shangri-La ( in cooperation with Tandanya), Singapore

1995 12th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

26th Alice Springs Art Prize, Alice Springs, Australia

Australia Now, Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands

Centre/Periphery, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Desert Painting 1974-1994, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

Ikuntji: New Art from the Western Desert, Framed - The Darwin Gallery, Darwin, Australia

Minyma Tjukurrpa, Haasts Bluff/Kintore Canvas Project, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, Australia

Northern Territory Art Award, Alice Springs, Australia

Paintings from Haasts Bluff, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia, Works on Paper, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

1996 27th Alice Springs Art Prize, Alice Springs, Australia

3rd National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition. The Art of Place, Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australia

Adelaide Fringe Festival, Desert Exhibition, Adelaide, Australia

Art Cologne, Koln, Germany

Dreamings of the Desert. Aboriginal dot paintings of the Western Desert, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

Heritage Art Award, Canberra, Australia

Ikuntji Minyma Tjuta, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

Ikuntji Tjuta, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

M.A.G.N.T. Shell Launch, Darwin, Australia

Minyma Mankurrpala Ikuntji Ngurra, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

Miracles from the Desert, Savode, Brisbane, Australia

Voices of the Earth. Paintings, Photography and Sculpture from Aboriginal Australia, Seoul, South Korea; Mumbai, Calcutta, India

13th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

1997 14th National Aboriginal Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

28th Alice Springs Art Prize, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer, Germany

Fisher´s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown, Australia

Ikuntji Tjuta in Adelaide, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide, in Canberra, Alliance Francaise, Canberra, Australia and in Sydney, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

Summer Exhibiton, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

1998 15th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

29th Alice Springs Art Prize, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

Adelaide Fringe Festival, Desart Exhibition, Adelaide, Australia

Culture Store, Art Gallery, Rotterdam. The Netherlands

Fire-Works on Paper, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

Ikuntji Paintings from Haasts Bluff, Framed - The Darwin Gallery, Darwin, Australia

Ikuntji Paintings, Gallerie Dusseldorf, Perth, Australia

Ikuntji, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, Australia

The Desert Mob Show, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

The Fourth National Heritage Art Award, Canberra, Australia

1999 16th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

Bush Garden, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Australia

Ikuntji Tjuta, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, Campbelltown, Australia

Ikuntji Walka, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

Spirit Country: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Gantner Myer Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA

Stadtische Galerie ADA, Meiningen, Germany

2000 17th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, Australia

Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

Ikuntji Artists - Warlayirti Artists, Desart Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Kunst der Aborigines, Leverkusen, Germany

Women´s Work, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

2001 18th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

Ikuntji Artists. Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

Our Country, Pintupi Women from Haasts Bluff, Raft Artspace, Darwin, Australia

Pintupi Women from Haasts Bluff, Indigenart, Perth, Australia

Pintupi Women, Desart Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Kunstforum HDZ, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

2002 Bush Stories from Haasts Bluff, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia

Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

Die Kraft und das Licht. Kunst aus Australia, Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg, Germany

Pintupi Women from Haasts Bluff, Indigenart, Perth, Australia

2003 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

Gallery Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

2004 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

Stadtgalerie Bamberg Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany

Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, Australia

Gallery Hossack, London, Great Britain

Gallery Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia

Indigenart, Perth, Australia

2005 ‘Les Couleurs du Desert’, Galerie DAD, Mantes-La-Jolie, France

2007 Cicada Trading - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates