Eileen Napaltjarri Indigenous Australian, b. c.1956-
Born: Haasts Bluff, NT
Language Group: Pintupi
Community: Kintore, NT
Eileen Napaltjarri was born in 1956 and grew up in Haasts Bluff before moving to Papunya and on to Kintore. She paints ancestral country near Kintore-Tjiturrulpa. Her work features strong sand hill designs.
Familiar with the Papunya Tula Movement for a long time due to her dad, Charlie Tararu Tjugurrayi, being one of the founding members, in addition Eileen’s mother was also a successful artist with the company.
Eileen started to explore her talent in the 1990’s. However, it was only in the late nineties that she began to acquire her own style. Her openness to different kinds of experimentation within her work is something that remains steadfastly with her and had its antecedence in her painting early.
A recurring motif in Eileen’s work is the use of shimmering light, which forms the basis of her oeuvre and which is simply illuminating.
Eileen Napaltjarri has consolidated her reputation as one of the most important second generation Aboriginal artists of the Western Desert movement. She is represented in major collections including in Australian National Gallery, Art Gallery of NSW and Artbank Collection.
Selected Exhibitions
2005 Rising Stars - Papunya, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2005 Papunya Tula Artists - New Work for a New Space, Utopia Art Sydney,
2005 Eileen Napaltjarri - Lines, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney
2006 Papunya Tula Arstist - Across the Board, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney
2006 PTA - Papunya tula Artist, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney
2006 The Togart Contemporary Art Exhibition, Parliament House, Darwin, NT
2006 Yawulyurru kapalilu palyara nintilpayi - grandmothers teaching culture and ceremony, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, NT
2007 Big Paintings from Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney
2007 Papunya Tula Artists 2007, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2008 Eileen Napaltjarri, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
