Nancy Kunoth Petyarre was an Australian Aboriginal

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 artist who lived in Utopia

Utopia, Northern Territory

Utopia is an Aboriginal homeland formed in November 1978 by the amalgamation of the former Utopia pastoral lease with a tract of unalienated land to its north. It covers an area of 3500 square kilometres, transected by the Sandover River, and lies on a traditional boundary of the Alyawarra and...

, 170 miles north east of Alice Springs. The second eldest of the famous and prolific 'seven famous Petyarre sisters' of Utopia (Ada Bird, Myrtle Petyarre, Violet Petyarre, Jean Petyarre and most notably Kathleen Petyarre

Kathleen Petyarre

Kathleen Petyarre is an eminent Australian Aboriginal artist, known for her paintings displaying an extremely refined layering technique with intricate dotting. Her art refers directly to her country and her Dreamings, concepts that may be difficult to grasp for the non-Aboriginal viewer...

 and Gloria Petyarre

Gloria Petyarre

Gloria Petyarre is an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Anmatyerre community, just north of Alice Springs...

), she was not herself a prolific artist.

Nancy Kunoth Petyarre was best-known for her fine dot designs representing the skin on the back of Arnkerrthe, the Mountain Devil Lizard. She is buried next to Emily Kame Kngwarreye in a little known spot along the Sandover Highway.

Petyarre was born at Soakage Bore, near Waite River, about 50 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs, sometime between 1934 and 1939 (reports conflict, and records do not exist). She grew up with four brothers, speaking the Anmatyerre

Anmatyerre

Anmatyerr, are an Indigenous Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. They are from an area near Arnka , Arwerlt Atwaty Anmatyerr, are an Indigenous Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. They are from an area near Arnka (Mount Leichhardt),...

 language, in the area known as Utopia, where her parents, Topsey Pwerle and Mick Kngwarreye had lived traditional lives in the desert.

It was not until she was in her forties, in the 1980s, that Nancy started painting. She worked first on batik and later on canvas. She also made carvings which have featured in many exhibitions. Her most famous works are "Mountain Devil Dreaming" and "Body Paint". Her first exhibition came when she was believed to be around 50 years old, at Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

's S. H. Ervin Gallery as part of a group show in 1989.

Her work is represented in the collections of:

• Museum & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
• The National Gallery of Australia
• The Art Gallery of New South Wales
• The Robert Holmes à Court Collection, Western Australia in a book entitled Utopia – A Picture Story, 88 Silks batiks, 1990, Anne Brody
• The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

Exhibitions

• 1989, Utopia Women’s Paintings, the First Works On Canvas, A Summer Project, 1988–89, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
• 1989, Aboriginal Art, The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• 1990, Utopia, A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 works on silk from the Holmes a Court Collection by Utopia artists which toured Éire and Scotland
• 1992, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
• 1993, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
• 1994, Central Australian Aboriginal Arts and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
• 1994, Yapakurlangu Wirrkardu, Bachelor College, Tennant Creek, NT
• 1999, June–August, “Caring for Country – Artists of Utopia”, Tandanya, S.A
• 2001, Mountain Devil Lizard – Arnkerrthe, Myrtle Petyarre, Nancy Petyarre and Violet Petyarre, July Exhibition: Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
• 2001, August, Seven Sisters Petyarre: Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane
• 2002, August, Redback Art Utopia Women
• 2002, September–October, Mbantua Gallery USA exhibitions: Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, TN; 'The Cove Gallery', Portland, OR; Urban Wine Works, Portland, OR; Mary's Woods, Portland, OR
• 2003, June, Seven Sisters, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney
• 2003, Sept-Oct, Mbantua Gallery USA exhibitions: New City Merchants, Knoxville, TN; Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, TN; 'The Cove Gallery' Portland, OR; Mary's Woods, Portland, OR
• 2003, October, Contemporary Aboriginal Art Event, Umpqua Bank in conjunction with Mbantua Gallery, Portland, Oregon USA
• 2003, October, Art from the Dreamtime, Portland Art Museum, Portland OR USA
• 2004, Aug-Sep, Mbantua Gallery USA exhibition; Portland, Nashville, Knoxville and Hartford
• 2005, May–June, Small Wonders’ (A collection of 1’x1’ and 1’x1½’ paintings), Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, N.T
• 2004-2006 Evolution of Utopia, Mbantua Gallery Cultural Museum, Alice Springs