Women's Hairstring, 2007

synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

122 x 92 cm

Est. $15,000 – $18,000

Provenance: Papunya Tula Artists, NT, Cat No. NN0702158 Private Collection, Vic
Artwork story: Makinti Napanangka stands among the most acclaimed Australian Aboriginal artists of the Western Desert, renowned for her fluid, abstracted depictions of women's ceremonial practices. In Women's Hairstring, she renders a motif associated with both ritual and daily life: the spinning of human hair into string, used for belts, ceremonial wear, and baby slings. The rhythm of her linework echoes the twisting motion of the practice itself - long, looping forms rendered in warm ochres and whites. Makinti's signature style, often described as gestural and luminous, transforms functional materials into symbols of cultural vitality. She was awarded the 2008 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and is represented in major public collections across Australia. Works such as this, while deceptively minimal, are celebrated for their vitality and the abstract expression of embodied cultural knowledge.

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Sale 1 · Lot 2

c.1922 / c.1930 – 2011

synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

122 x 92 cm

Est. $15,000 – $18,000

Provenance: Papunya Tula Artists, NT, Cat No. NN0702158 Private Collection, Vic
Artwork story: Makinti Napanangka stands among the most acclaimed Australian Aboriginal artists of the Western Desert, renowned for her fluid, abstracted depictions of women's ceremonial practices. In Women's Hairstring, she renders a motif associated with both ritual and daily life: the spinning of human hair into string, used for belts, ceremonial wear, and baby slings. The rhythm of her linework echoes the twisting motion of the practice itself - long, looping forms rendered in warm ochres and whites. Makinti's signature style, often described as gestural and luminous, transforms functional materials into symbols of cultural vitality. She was awarded the 2008 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and is represented in major public collections across Australia. Works such as this, while deceptively minimal, are celebrated for their vitality and the abstract expression of embodied cultural knowledge.