Napaljarri or Napaltjarri is one of sixteen skin names

Australian Aboriginal kinship

Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Australian Aboriginal culture...

 used amongst Indigenous Australian people of Australia's

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 Western Desert

Western Desert cultural bloc

The Western Desert cultural bloc or just Western Desert is a cultural region in Australia covering about 600,000 square kilometres, including the Gibson Desert, the Great Victoria Desert, the Great Sandy and Little Sandy Deserts in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia...

, including the Pintupi

Pintupi

Pintupi refers to an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose homeland is in the area west of Lake MacDonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia. These people moved into the Aboriginal communities of Papunya and Haasts Bluff in the west of the...

 and Warlpiri

Warlpiri

The Warlpiri are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak the Warlpiri language. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land in Australia's Northern Territory, north and west of Alice Springs...

. It is one of the eight female skin names. Skin names are often treated by Western cultures as equivalent to a surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

; as a result the name is familiar to many as that of prominent Indigenous figures, such as artists Tjunkiya Napaltjarri

Tjunkiya Napaltjarri

Tjunkiya Napaltjarri was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...

, her sister Wintjiya Napaltjarri

Wintjiya Napaltjarri

Wintjiya Napaltjarri , and also known as Wintjia Napaltjarri No. 1, is a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...

, and Linda Syddick Napaltjarri

Linda Syddick Napaltjarri

Linda Yunkata Syddick Napaltjarri is a Pintupi- and Pitjantjatjara- speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...

.

Skin name

Skin names denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people

Australian Aboriginal kinship

Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Australian Aboriginal culture...

. 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.

Individuals of the Napaljarri skin group (together with its male equivalent, Tjapaljarri) will be either owners (kurdu) or managers (kurdungurlu) of particular 'dreaming

Dreaming (spirituality)

The Dreaming is a common term within the animist creation narrative of indigenous Australians for a personal, or group, creation and for what may be understood as the "timeless time" of formative creation and perpetual creating....

' sites. If they are the owners, then the managers will be from the Napurrurla / Tjupurrula skin name group, and vice versa.

Dreamings are associated with particular skin names and individuals. Jimmy Jungurrayi relates the story Patilirrikirli, a budgerigar dreaming associated with a location called Patilirri. This dreaming is specific to the Napaljarri / Tjapaljarri and Nungarrayi / Jungarrayi pairings of skin names. Dreamings associated with the Napaljarri women at Yuendumu include budgerigar, bush onion, witchetty grub

Witchetty grub

The witchetty grub is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths...

 and honey ant

Honeypot ant

Honeypot ants, also called honey ants or repletes, are ants which are gorged with food by workers, to the point that their abdomens swell enormously, a condition called plerergate. Other ants then extract nourishment from them. They function essentially as living larders. Honeypot ants belong to...

. These have been portrayed in paintings by artists such as Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy

Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy

Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy AM is a Walpiri and Anmatyerre-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. One of the first Indigenous women artists to paint in acrylics, her work has been exhibited at major galleries around Australia, and is held in the collection of the National...

 and Helen Nelson Napaljarri

Helen Nelson Napaljarri

Helen Nelson Napaljarri , also known as Helen White Napajarri or Helen Spencer Napaljarri, is a Walpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. A literacy worker in Yuendumu, Northern Territory, Helen began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists in the 1980s...

.

Prominent members of the skin name group

There are numerous artists from the Napaljarri skin group. They include several who have been finalists in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award

National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award

The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award is one of the most prestigious art awards in Australia. Established in 1984 by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and awarded annually, it is sponsored by Telstra, so is commonly known as the Telstra Award.Prize-winners...

s: Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri

Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri

Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri was a Pintupi- and Luritja-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region, and sister of artist Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri...

, Wintjiya Napaltjarri

Wintjiya Napaltjarri

Wintjiya Napaltjarri , and also known as Wintjia Napaltjarri No. 1, is a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...

, Linda Syddick Napaltjarri

Linda Syddick Napaltjarri

Linda Yunkata Syddick Napaltjarri is a Pintupi- and Pitjantjatjara- speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...

 and Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri

Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri

Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri is a Walpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Ngoia Pollard married Jack Tjampitjinpa, who became an artist working with the Papunya Tula company, and they had five children.Having commenced painting in 1997, Ngoia Pollard won a major...

. One of these, Linda Syddick, has also been a finalist in the Blake Prize. Several Napaljarri women have works in the collection of Australia's national gallery

National Gallery of Australia

The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...

, including Daisy Jugadai, Tjunkiya Napaltjarri

Tjunkiya Napaltjarri

Tjunkiya Napaltjarri was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...

, and Eileen Napaltjarri

Eileen Napaltjarri

Eileen Napaltjarri is a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Eileen Napaltjarri, also known as Anyima Napaltjarri or Nanyuma Napaltjarri, began painting for Papunya Tula artists' cooperative in 1996...

. Others have works in collections of the state galleries: Kitty Pultara Napaljarri

Kitty Pultara Napaljarri

Kitty Pultara Napaljarri is an Anmatyerre-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Born at Napperby Station east of Yuendumu, Northern Territory, she worked on the station and first learned to paint there around 1986...

's work is in the Art Gallery of South Australia

Art Gallery of South Australia

The Art Gallery of South Australia , located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in Adelaide, is the premier visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of over 35,000 works of art, making it, after the National Gallery of Victoria, the largest state...

; the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Art Gallery of New South Wales

The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...

 holds work by Sheila Brown Napaljarri

Sheila Brown Napaljarri

Sheila Brown Napaljarri was a Warlpiri speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. A contributor to major collaborative paintings by Indigenous communities, her works are also held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the South Australian Museum.-Life:Sheila Brown was...

 and Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri

Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri

Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri was an Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region...

.

Other artists of the skin group include Ada Andy Napaltjarri

Ada Andy Napaltjarri

Ada Andy Napaltjarri is a Warlpiri– and Luritja–speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Ada was born near Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory, and has lived in several Northern Territory communities...

 and her sister Nora Andy Napaltjarri

Nora Andy Napaltjarri

Nora Andy Napaltjarri is a Warlpiri– and Luritja–speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. like her mother Entalura Nangala, Nora has painted for Indigenous artists' cooperative Papunya Tula...

.

Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy

Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy

Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy AM is a Walpiri and Anmatyerre-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. One of the first Indigenous women artists to paint in acrylics, her work has been exhibited at major galleries around Australia, and is held in the collection of the National...

has been made a Member of the Order of Australia for her work in the Yuendumu community.