bundjala djinama group profile

bundjala and djinama is dhurga for think and make/create.

These works were sourced from Council's collection as well as Christina Kennedy's private collection that celebrate the depth, strength and creative expression of Australian Aboriginal artists. The Bas does not have permission to reproduce images of the works.

Featured artists in collection

Emily Kam Kngwarray (Alhaker, NT)

Emily Kam Kngwarray (c.1910–1996) was a senior Anmatyerr artist from Alhalker (Utopia) in the Northern Territory and one of the most influential figures in contemporary Australian art. She lived and worked on her Country for most of her life and carried deep cultural knowledge as an Elder and custodian of Anmatyerr women’s law. Kngwarray began her artistic practice later in life, first working with batik before moving to painting on canvas in the late 1980s.

Her work is grounded in her intimate knowledge of Country and reflects the plants, seasons, and life cycles of the desert landscape, particularly Alhalker. Known for her bold use of colour, energetic mark‑making and evolving abstract styles, Kngwarray’s paintings gained international recognition during the final years of her life. Her work is held in major collections around the world, and she continues to be recognised as one of Australia’s most important artists of the twentieth century.

Elizabeth Nungarrayi Nyumi (Nynmi, WA)

Elizabeth Nungarrayi Nyumi (c.1947–2019) was a respected Pintupi artist born near Jupiter Well (Nynmi), west of Kiwirrkura in Western Australia. She lived a traditionally nomadic life as a child before walking the Canning Stock Route with her family as a teenager and later working across pastoral stations in the region. A strong cultural woman and dancer, Nyumi was deeply committed to passing on knowledge, song and ceremony to younger generations.

Nyumi began painting in 1987 with Warlayirti Artists and emerged as a leading artist by the late 1990s. Her work depicts her family’s Country and its abundant bush foods, evolving from bold brushwork to richly textured dotting while retaining signature motifs of camps, coolamons and bush tucker. In 2004, she became the first artist from Warlayirti Artists to be selected for the Biennale of Sydney, and her work is held in major public collections in Australia.

George Tjungarrayi (Kiwirrkura, WA)

George Tjungurrayi (b. c. 1943–1947) is a highly respected senior Pintupi artist, born near Walawala close to Kiwirrkura in Western Australia. He spent his early life living on Country before moving through Mt Doreen, Yuendumu and Papunya from the early 1960s. before settling with his family in Kintore, where he continues to live and work.

Tjungurrayi began painting in 1976 with Papunya Tula Artists alongside his brother Willy and other senior Pintupi painters. Over time, he developed a distinctive style marked by abstraction, restrained colour palettes and finely undulating lines. His works depict topographical features and culturally significant sites of Pintupi Country. His paintings are held in major national and international collections, and his work was included in the 21st Biennale of Sydney in 2020.

Josephine Napurrula (Kintore, NT)

Josephine Napurrula (b. c. 1948) was born near a rockhole site close to where the Tjukula community was later established. As a young girl, she walked with her family between Haasts Bluff and Papunya before later settling in Kintore. In 1999, Napurrula contributed to the important Kintore women’s painting project as part of the Western Desert Dialysis Appeal.

Napurrula first exhibited her work in 1996 and has since exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally, including in Germany and Singapore. Her paintings are held in major public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Artbank and the Griffith University Art Collection.

Judy Napangardi Watson (Yuendumu, NT)

Judy Napangardi Watson (c. 1925–2016) was a senior Warlpiri artist from Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. Born at Yarungkanji near Mount Doreen Station, she lived a traditionally nomadic life and travelled widely through her ancestral Country, including Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts. Although an energetic and respected cultural woman throughout her life, Watson did not begin painting until the 1980s, when she was introduced to the practice by her sister, Maggie Watson.

Watson’s paintings primarily depict Mina Mina and associated Dreamings, particularly the Ngalyipi (Snake Vine) Dreaming. Her distinctive style is characterised by vibrant colour, dynamic compositions and a ‘dragged dotting’ technique that creates sinuous lines and textured surfaces. Her work is held in major national and international collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and she remains highly regarded for her bold, ground‑breaking contribution to contemporary Indigenous art.

Maggie Napangardi Watson (Yuendumu, NT)

Maggie Napangardi Watson (c.1921–2004) was a senior Warlpiri artist from Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. Raised during a time of nomadic life, she grew up travelling through her ancestral Country, including the important women’s sites of Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu. Watson began painting in the mid‑1980s at around 60 years of age and was one of the pioneering women artists associated with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association at Yuendumu.

Watson’s work centres on Warlpiri women’s Dreamings, particularly stories associated with digging sticks, hairstring and ceremonial journeys across Country. Her distinctive style is characterised by vibrant colour and finely worked, sinuous lines created using a dragged dotting technique. A respected cultural leader, she played a significant role in shaping the emergence of women’s painting in the Central Desert and influenced later generations of artists, including her younger sister, Judy Watson Napangardi.

Mick Namarrari Tjapaltjarri (Papunya, NT)

Mick Namarrari Tjapaltjarri (c.1926–1998) was a senior Pintupi artist and one of the founding figures of the Western Desert art movement. Born at Marnpi (Bronzewing Pigeon Rockhole) west of Alice Springs, he lived a traditionally nomadic life before later working as a stockman and labourer across Central Australia. In 1971, he became one of the original artists at Papunya, playing a key role in the emergence of Papunya Tula painting.

Namarrari’s work evolved from early figurative imagery to highly refined abstract and minimalist compositions, often characterised by subtle colour palettes and rhythmic linear markings. His paintings depict ancestral stories and the landscapes of Pintupi Country with clarity and restraint. Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and consistent artists of his generation, his work is held in major national and international collections, and in 1994 he was awarded the Red Ochre Award for lifetime achievement.

Naata Nungurrayi (Kintore, NT)

Naata Nungurrayi (c.1932–2021) was a senior Pintupi artist and respected Elder from Kintore in the Northern Territory. Born at the rockhole site of Kumil, west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia, she lived a traditionally nomadic life before being brought to Papunya with her family in the early 1960s. Following the establishment of Kintore, Naata returned to her home Country, carrying with her deep cultural knowledge and authority.

Naata began painting with Papunya Tula Artists in 1996 and quickly emerged as a leading figure in the Kintore women’s painting movement. Her work depicts sandhills, rockholes and sacred women’s sites of Pintupi Country, often associated with ancestral journeys and ceremony. Known for her confident line, layered surfaces and restrained colour palettes, her paintings are held in major national and international collections, and in 2003 her work appeared on an Australia Post Aboriginal art stamp.

Natalie Bateman (NSW)

Natalie Bateman is an Australian artist with strong connections to Yuin country on the NSW South Coast. She makes sculptures and installations using everyday and found materials, exploring how simple, familiar objects can take on new meaning when they’re gathered and carefully arranged.

Her work invites people to slow down and look closely, often responding to the spaces it’s shown in. In 2024, Bateman was awarded the Eurobodalla Award as part of the Basil Sellers Art Prize, recognising her thoughtful and distinctive artistic practice.

Nigel Stewart (Narooma, NSW)

Nigel Stewart is a Yuin artist and cultural practitioner based in Narooma on the NSW South Coast. Working under Bunitch Dreaming, he shares Aboriginal cultural knowledge through art, storytelling and community‑led practice. His work draws on deep connections to Country in the Eurobodalla region and explores themes of land, waterways, gathering and cultural continuity.

Stewart’s practice spans painting, public artworks and cultural education. He regularly leads traditional First Nations art workshops and cultural experiences, inviting people to learn about Aboriginal symbols, stories and ways of seeing. His community artworks include contributions to public cultural sites across Eurobodalla, supporting both place‑making and cultural understanding.

Nina Puruntatameri (Melville Island, NT)

Nina Puruntatameri (b. 1971) is a Tiwi artist from Melville Island in the Northern Territory, where she lives and works at Pirlangimpi. She is a long‑time member of Munupi Arts & Crafts Association and was taught to paint by her father, Romuald Puruntatameri, a highly respected Tiwi artist and senior cultural leader.

Puruntatameri works primarily in painting, with motifs drawn from Tiwi ceremonial life, including body‑painting designs and stories passed down through family and culture. She also works across other media such as printmaking, batik and ceramics. Her work has been exhibited widely, and in 1993 she received the Award for New Medium at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for her printmaking.

Owen Yaladja (Arnhem Land, NT)

Owen Yaladja (b. 1961) is a senior Kuninjku artist from western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. He lives and works near Maningrida and is a custodian of important cultural sites connected to yawkyawk—female water spirits associated with sacred billabongs. Yaladja learned carving from his father, Crusoe Kuningbal, a highly respected artist and ceremonial leader.

Yaladja is best known for his finely carved and painted wooden sculptures of yawkyawk, as well as bark paintings. His work is admired for its elegance, intricate patterning and strong connection to Country and ceremony. Internationally recognised, his work is held in major public collections and has been shown in leading exhibitions in Australia and overseas.

Roy Underwood (Great Victoria Desert, WA)

Roy Underwood (c.1937–2018) was a senior Pitjantjatjara artist and respected Elder of the Spinifex People from the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia. He lived a traditionally nomadic life before being removed to missions in South Australia, later playing a central role in the return of Spinifex People to their ancestral Country and in the successful Native Title determination in 2000.

Underwood was a key contributor to the Spinifex Arts Project, and his paintings depict important sites, stories and ancestral beings connected to his Country. Known for their bold colour, strong geometric forms and intricate patterning, his works express deep cultural knowledge and connection to land. His work has been exhibited widely in Australia and internationally and is held in major public collections.

Sherrie Nye and Adam McCarron (Mogo, NSW)

Sherrie Nye is a Walbunja Yuin artist based in Mogo on the NSW South Coast. Her creative practice is closely connected to Country, community and lived experience, and often responds directly to environmental and cultural events affecting her homeland. Alongside her work as an artist, Nye has been deeply involved in caring for Country as part of the Indigenous ranger program in the Eurobodalla region.

Nye’s artwork has featured in local exhibitions that explore community resilience and recovery, including Postcards from the Fire, which shared Aboriginal artists’ responses to the 2019–20 bushfires and their impact on Country and community. Her work reflects cultural strength, survival and continuity, drawing on Yuin knowledge, family and place.

Adam McCarron is a Walbunja Yuin artist based in Eurobodalla, working across painting and sculptural forms. His creative practice is grounded in personal and collective experiences of Country and community, with a focus on cultural identity and lived history.

McCarron has exhibited locally alongside other Mogo Aboriginal artists, including in Postcards from the Fire, where artists shared works responding to the devastation — and ongoing healing — following the Black Summer bushfires. His work contributes to important local Aboriginal storytelling through contemporary art practice.

Susan Wanji Wanji (Melville Island, NT)

Susan Wanji Wanji (b. 1955) is a Tiwi artist who lives and works on Melville Island in the Northern Territory. Born near Maningrida in Arnhem Land, she grew up living closely with Country and water, spending much of her childhood travelling by canoe and learning to hunt, gather and fish with Elders. In the early 1980s she moved to the Tiwi Islands, where she learned bark painting, carving and ceremonial arts from Tiwi family members and Elders.

Wanji Wanji has worked with Munupi Arts & Crafts since 1990 and has developed a distinctive style influenced by both Tiwi and Arnhem Land traditions. Her work includes painting, printmaking and weaving, with imagery drawn from Tiwi ceremonies, body‑painting designs and the natural environment. In 2013 she was a finalist in the Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, and her work is held in national and international collections.

Timo Hogan (Great Victoria Desert, WA)

Timo Hogan (b. 1973) is a Pitjantjatjara artist from Spinifex Country in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia. Born in Kalgoorlie, he grew up between communities before returning to his ancestral lands, where he now lives and works at Tjuntjuntjara. Hogan is a cultural caretaker for Lake Baker (Pukunkura), a powerful and sacred site central to his family’s Country and law.

Hogan’s paintings focus on Lake Baker and its creation stories, using bold, pared‑back forms and strong contrasts of colour to represent the salt lake, rockholes and ancestral beings connected to the site. In 2021, his work Lake Baker won the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, bringing national recognition to his practice. His work has since been exhibited widely and is held in major public collections.

Tracey Puruntatameri (Melville Island, NT)

Tracey Puruntatameri (b. 1961) is a Tiwi artist from Melville Island in the Northern Territory and a long‑time member of Munupi Arts & Crafts. He was taught to paint and carve from a young age by his father, Romuald Puruntatameri, a highly respected Tiwi artist and cultural leader, often working alongside his sister, fellow artist Nina Puruntatameri.

Puruntatameri works primarily as a carver, creating sculptural forms from local ironwood that depict Tiwi totemic animals and cultural stories. His works are painted with natural ochres and reflect strong connections to family, Country and Tiwi knowledge passed down through generations. His work has been exhibited nationally and is held in public and private collections.

Watjinbuy Marawili (Arnhem Land, NT)

Watjinbuy Marawili (born c.1937) is a Yolŋu artist from north‑east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory and a member of the Madarrpa clan. He worked from the Yirrkala region and painted themes connected to his Country and ancestral stories, including images of Bäru (the crocodile). His work reflects long‑established Yolŋu bark‑painting traditions.

Marawili’s paintings were made during the early period of Indigenous art entering Australian public collections and museums. His work is held by major institutions, including the National Gallery of Victoria, and appears in private and public collections. Though relatively few works are known today, his practice forms part of the wider Marawili family legacy of Yolŋu cultural leadership and artistic knowledge.