Dorothy Napangardi.

Dorothy Napangardi’s (1952- 2013) innovative and distinctive painting style earned her the reputation as one of Australia’s most important Aboriginal artists. Dorothy was born at Mina Mina, west of Yuendumu, in the Tanami Desert. Napangardi began painting ‘bush tucker’ stories in 1987 when her children were still young and well after she moved from her ancestral Warlpiri lands into Alice Springs, where she has lived the greater part of her life. Dorothy Napangardi established her reputation as a pre-eminent Warlpiri artist when in 2001 she won first prize in Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Her minimal black and white painting was an elegant statement of the Mina Mina salt country that is associated with the Women’s ceremonial site in the area. Her success was followed in 2002 with a major survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.