Sophisticated, perceived linear abstraction are often the hallmark of art of the Pintupi people. However, they are essentially entrenched in the landscape, sacred lore and ceremony.

'This painting by Mantua James Nangala, relates to the soakage water site of Puntujapana, west of Kiwirrkura Community and near Jupiter Well in Western Australia. A group of women travelled from west and camped at this site before continuing east to Marrapinti, Kiwirrkura and Wirrulnga.  While in the area of Puntutjapana, they gathered the edible fruit known as pura, or bush tomato, from the small shrub Solanum chippendalei.  This fruit is the size of an apricot and after the seeds have been removed, can be stored for some time by threading the fruit on to skewers made from straight sticks.  The lines with the attached arc shapes in the painting represent the stored fruit.'      Text ©Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd

Nangala learnt to paint whilst assisting her father at Kintore in the early 1980’s. Mantua paints designs associated with secret Tingari ceremonies at the site of Tjulna, located south-east of Kiwirrkura and other sites of her father’s Country. She is the sister of Ray James Tjangala and George Yapa Tjangala, all of whom have painted for Papunya Tula Artists.

Nangala was a small girl when her father Anatjari Tjampitjinpa and her mother Mamurlu Napaltjari came in from the desert in 1963, one of the last groups to do so under the direction of Welfare patrols lead by Jeremy Long. The patrol, with Nosebag Tjupurrula and a Tjampitjinpa from Papunya had been looking for them on the road (the origianl raod made by Lea Beadel west in to Western Australia from the Sandy Blight Junction). The met at Mukala. At the time, Nangala and her family were living on ‘bush mangari’, or damper (a sort of bread), made from seeds and were getting scarce water from rockholes.

Nangala trained as a healthcare worker and in 1984, was involved with the first contact of the very last group to emerge from the Gibson desert, being her Tjalpaltjari uncle, her mother’s brothers.

A wonderful interview with Mantua James Nangala by Hetti Perkins, curator of the 2022 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial at the National Gallery of Australia, can be found on the NGA website.

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Victoria

Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art

The University of Melbourne

The Luczo Family Collection, USA

Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

2022

4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

2021

Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

2019

‘Community X’, Utopia Art, Sydney

36th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin

The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

2018

35th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin

2017

Salon de Refusés, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney

2015

– Women’s Lore, Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin

Tarnanthi – Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Annual Pintupi Exhibition, Papunya Tula Artist, Alice Springs

2014

Kiwirrkura Women, Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin

2013

Recent Works, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs

2012

Visual Rhythm, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin

Desert Mob 2012, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs

Tjukurrpa Ngaatjanya Maru Kamu Tjulkura – Dreaming in Black and White, ReDot Gallery, Singapore

2011

Papunya Tula Women’s Art, Maitland Regional Art Gallery

Pintupi Trails 2011, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

Recent Pintupi Art’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs

2010

Wilkinkarralakutu – Journeys to Lake Mackay, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin

Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs

Ngurrakutu, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs

2009

Pro Community Papunya Tula Artists, Kunstwerk, Eberdingen-Nussdorf, Germany

Pro Community Papunya Tula Artists, ArtBar 71, Berlin, Germany

Pintupi 2009, Tony Bond Art Dealer, Adelaide

Pro Community Papunya Tula Artists, VDMA, Frankfurt, Germany

Nganampatju Kanpatja Winki, Nganampatju Yara Winkii – All Our Paintings, All Our Stories, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs

Pro Community Papunya Tula Artists, Artkelch, Freiburg, Germany

2008

Yara Palyantjaku Ngurrangka – Making Strong Paintings at Home, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs

2007

Kiwirrkura Women, Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art Sydney

Pintupi – Mixed Exhibition, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs The Black and White Show’, Red Dot Gallery, Singapore

2006

A Particular Collection, Utopia Art Sydney

2005

Papunya Tula - The Next Generation, Walkabout Gallery, Sydney

Living Legends of the Western Desert’, Walkabout Gallery, Sydney

2004

Peintres Pintupi, Galerie DAD, Mantes-La-Jolie, France