Helen Nelson Napaljarri

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Helen Nelson Napaljarri (born c. 1949), also known as Helen White Napajarri or Helen Spencer Napaljarri,

Warlukurlangu Artists in the 1980s. Her paintings are held by the Art Gallery of South Australia and South Australian Museum
. She has contributed to several bilingual language books in Walpiri and English.

Life

Helen was born circa 1949.

kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans.[3][4]
Thus 'Helen Nelson' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers.

She worked in

Yuendumu, Northern Territory as a teaching assistant and literacy worker, and it was there that she first painted in the 1980s, with Warlukurlangu Artists.[1]

Art and writing

Background

Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began when Indigenous men at

outstations, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.[7]

Career

Western Desert artists such as Helen will frequently paint particular '

dreamings', or stories, for which they have personal responsibility or rights,[9] which in Helen's case include Ngarlkirdi (witchetty grub) and Wardapi (goanna) dreamings.[10] Her paintings have been exhibited in the United States, and are held in the collections of the South Australian Museum and Art Gallery.[10]

Helen Nelson is one of a group of authors who wrote bilingual works in Walpiri and English for the Bilingual Resources Development Unit. In 1984 she co-wrote Nyurruwiyi kuja kalalu-jana mardarnu pirltirrka = Childbirth in the old days.[11] She also worked on literature to assist teaching English as a second language to Aboriginal children, collaborating on The python who went in search of a burrow and A Frightening Sight, both published in 1985.[12][13]

Collections

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-876622-47-4
    .
  2. ISBN 1-876622-47-4
    .
  3. ^ "Kinship and skin names". People and culture. Central Land Council. Archived from the original on 10 November 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  4. ISBN 978-0-85575-234-7
    .
  5. ^ Bardon, Geoffrey; James Bardon (2006). Papunya – A place made after the story: The beginnings of the Western Desert painting movement. University of Melbourne: Miegunyah Press.
  6. ^ Dussart, Francoise (2006). "Canvassing identities: reflecting on the acrylic art movement in an Australian Aboriginal settlement". Aboriginal History. 30: 156–168.
  7. ^ a b Morphy, Howard (1999). Aboriginal Art. London: Phaidon. pp. 261–316.
  8. ^ Strocchi, Marina (2006). "Minyma Tjukurrpa: Kintore / Haasts Bluff Canvas Project: Dancing women to famous painters". Artlink. 26 (4).
  9. ^ Johnson, Vivien (1994). "Introduction". Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary. Roseville East, NSW: Craftsman House. pp. 7–12.
  10. ^ a b c Johnson, Vivien (1994). Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary. Roseville East, NSW: Craftsman House. p. 151.
  11. ISBN 9780867511802
    . Retrieved 7 July 2009.
  12. ISBN 9780724515134
    . Retrieved 7 July 2009.
  13. ^ Catalogue entry: A frightening sight / by Helen Napaljarri Nelson; illustrations by Lesley Bluett. Tracks. National Library of Australia. 1985. Retrieved 7 July 2009.

External links

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