Ngaanyatjarraku

Distinguished and Famous people from Ngaanyatjarraku

🎨 Nola Yurnangurnu Campbell

Nola Yurnangurnu Campbell’s life connects several desert communities and family places, including Warburton and Patjarr. Taken to Warburton as a young woman, she later lived at Wiluna and then Patjarr, where she married artist Coiley Campbell. He gave her permission to paint his story, an important reminder that the right to depict particular cultural material is not simply a matter of choosing an attractive subject. Her work includes sites at Yunpalara and draws on a deep personal knowledge of Country.

🖌️ Yannima Pikarli Tommy Watson

Yannima Pikarli Tommy Watson began painting around 2001 as one of the artists associated with establishing the Irrunytju community art centre. A senior Pitjantjatjara man with extensive knowledge of Country and law, he developed paintings notable for intense colour and layered marks. His work reached major Australian collections and international audiences, including an architectural commission in Paris. Irrunytju and nearby desert Country formed the setting for this extraordinary late painting career. A late beginning with paint gave a new public medium to knowledge accumulated through a much longer life.