Other Spellings: Michelee
Born: c. 1945
Region: Western Desert
Community: Haasts Bluff
Language: Pintupi
Area: Kintore
Social Affiliation: Napurrula subsection
Subjects: bloom, Mitukatjarrila
Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas
Awards:
Mitjili has received a number of awards of excellence including the Australian
Heritage Art Award, Canberra 1993, Northern Territory Art Award, Alice Springs
1994, and most recently the 1999 Alice Springs Art Award.
Collections held:
Artbank, Sydney.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide.
Exhibitions:
1993, Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra.
1994, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1994, Adelaide Fringe Festival.
1994, Ikuntji, paintings from Haasts Bluff 1992-1994, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne;
1994, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs.
1994, Australian High Commission and Shangri-la Hotel, Singapore, through Tandanya
Aboriginal Cultural Institute.
1994, Yiribana, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
1995, Mitjili Napurrula and Marlee Napurrula, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne;
1995, Ikuntji: Paintings from Haasts Bluff 1993-1995, Framed Gallery, Darwin;
1995, The Twelfth National Aboriginal Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the
Northern Territory, Darwin;
Select Bibliography:
Neale, M., 1994, Yiribana, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. (C) ;
Strocchi, M., (ed.), 1995, Ikuntji: Paintings from Haasts Bluff 1992-1994, IAD
Press, Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
Details
Recognized as one of the most famous Pintupi women painters and coming from a
patrilineal line of painters Mitjili commenced painting in 1993. Her mother,
Tjunkayi Napaltjarri, was involved in the 'Minyma Tjukurrpa Project' (a collection
of women painters from Kintore and the Ikuntji Womens centre in 1994) and
consequently became one of the principal women painters at Kintore. Her brother
is perhaps the most acclaimed painter in her line - the Great Turkey Tolson
(deceased) who is one of the founding members and principal painters for Papunya
Tula. Her sister, Wintjiya Napaltjarri is one of the three wives of Tupa, Turkey
Tolson's father, and her husband Long Tom Tjapanangka is also a leading painter
at Haasts Bluff who recently won the prestigeous 1999 N.T. Telstra Art Award
and has many works held in public collections nationally.
Turkey Tolson painted the Tjukurrpa or Dreaming associated with the assembly of
spears. Representing the female side of this dreaming, Mitjili concentrates on
the trees that provide the wood. Taught her fathers dreaming by her mother,
Mitjili has a close association with the spear dreaming as her fathers country
Ulwalki is where the trees that provide the wood for spear making are found.
Her symbolic representations are strongly patterned works with distinctive
contrasts in the use of colour. Formative symbols take shape against a dotted
white background - creating depth and movement - a playful combination on the eye.
Other Dreamings Mitjili has inherited include Wangunu or Portulaca (small black
seeds ground and used to make damper). And Arkatjirri - a fruit similar to a
sultana that is found in the bush. A large body of her work includes vibrant
reds, yellows and browns which serve to communicate the essence of flowers, many
of her works being primarily concerned with their representation. Her superb
sense for spacing and colour is distinctively appealing and indicative of her
playful manner. Her works are widely collected both publicly and privately and
have been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
 Home |
 Central Desert |
 Arnhemland |
 Special works |
 Artists |