Nancy Ross Nungurrayi

Nancy Nungurrayi was born at Maya, north west of Kintore around 1935. As a small child she lived with her parents at Wala Wala, west of the Kiwirrkurra Community. She lived in this area after she was married and when her husband passed away, she walked to Papunya carrying her first child, Marlene Nampitjinpa. Commencing painting in 1996, Nancy and her older sister, Naata Nungurrayi, along with eight other women from Walunguru, took part in the major collaborative painting, which was exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1999 in preparation for the landmark exhibition Genesis and Genius that was held in 2000. Nancy has a distinctive technique and uses the large 'U' shapes in her artwork to represent the body paint designs painted on womens' breasts when taking part in the women's ceremony.