Sheila Brown Napaljarri
Encyclopedia
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
.
region of the Northern Territory
, approximately 900 kilometres south of Darwin
. The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events.
'Napaljarri
' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name
, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the 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. Thus 'Sheila Brown' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers.
In 2003, the year of her death, Sheila Brown was living at Mangurrurpa.
. Their work, which used acrylic paints to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. The first artists, including all of the founders of the Papunya Tula
artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia to women painting. However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s large numbers of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore, Yuendumu, Balgo, and on the outstations
, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.
in Alice Springs
.
Western Desert artists such as Sheila will frequently paint particular 'dreamings
', or stories, for which they have personal responsibility or rights. Her works included paintings of Witi Jukurrpa, or ceremonial pole dreaming, Ngarlkirdi, or witchetty grub
, Yiwarra, or milky way
, bandicoot
and Two Women. All are associated with the area around Kunajarrayi, or Mount Nicker, an important ceremonial site in the Northern Territory near the Western Australian border. Some of these dreaming stories are shared with other prominent artists, including Paddy Japaljarri Sims, one of the initiators of the Yuendumu doors project, widely considered the genesis of the contemporary Indigenous art movement.
Sheila Brown is one of a group of artists who contributed some major major collaborative works. In 1994 she was one of the artists responsible for Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa (Women's Dreaming), held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The work was exhibited in the gallery as part of the Gamarada exhibition of 1996–97. In 1996 Sheila Brown was one of the twenty-nine women and five men who collaborated to produce Karrku Jukurrpa, a work commissioned for the collection of John Kluge and exhibited in the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection
at the University of Virginia. The painting assembles a range of mythological symbols and stories associated with the people and country around Yuendumu.
Warlpiri language
The Warlpiri language is spoken by about 3000 of the Warlpiri people in Australia's Northern Territory. It is one of the Ngarrkic languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family, and is one of the largest aboriginal languages in Australia in terms of number of speakers.-...
speaking Indigenous artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
from 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...
region. A contributor to major collaborative paintings by Indigenous communities, her works are also held by 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...
and the South Australian Museum
South Australian Museum
The South Australian Museum is a museum in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultural precinct of the Adelaide Parklands.-History:...
.
Life
Sheila Brown was born circa 1940 in the LajamanuLajamanu, Northern Territory
Lajamanu is a small town of the Northern Territory in Australia. It has a population of 669 , of which a significant amount are of Aboriginal origin...
region of the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, approximately 900 kilometres south of Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
. The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events.
'Napaljarri
Napaljarri (skin name)
Napaljarri or Napaltjarri is one of sixteen skin names used amongst Indigenous Australian people of Australia's Western Desert, including the Pintupi and Warlpiri. It is one of the eight female skin names...
' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name
Australian Aboriginal kinship
Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Australian Aboriginal culture...
, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the 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. Thus 'Sheila Brown' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers.
In 2003, the year of her death, Sheila Brown was living at Mangurrurpa.
Background
Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began when Indigenous men at Papunya began painting in 1971, assisted by teacher Geoffrey BardonGeoffrey Bardon
Geoffrey Robert Bardon AM 1940, Sydney – 6 May 2003) was an Australian school teacher who was instrumental in creating the Aboriginal art of the Western Desert movement, and in bringing Australian indigenous art to the attention of the world....
. Their work, which used acrylic paints to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. The first artists, including all of the founders of the Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula, or Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 that is owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative work with the Western Desert Art Movement, popularly referred to as "dot painting"...
artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia to women painting. However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s large numbers of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore, Yuendumu, Balgo, and on the outstations
Outstation movement
The Outstation movement refers to the relocation of Indigenous Australians from towns to remote outposts on traditional tribal land.As described in the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody a range of problems faced Aboriginal people living in towns.During the 1980s a number of groups...
, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.
Career
One of the first women of Yuendumu to work with acrylic paints, Sheila Brown painted for Warlukurlangu Artists in Yuendumu, which she continued to do when living at Mangurrurpa. In October 1985, she was amongst the artists whose works were exhibited at the first exhibition of paintings from Yuendumu, at the Araluen Centre for Arts and EntertainmentAraluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment
The Araluen Centre for Arts & Entertainment in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, Australia, is a cultural centre incorporating museums and a theatre....
in Alice Springs
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
.
Western Desert artists such as Sheila will frequently paint particular 'dreamings
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....
', or stories, for which they have personal responsibility or rights. Her works included paintings of Witi Jukurrpa, or ceremonial pole dreaming, Ngarlkirdi, or witchetty grub
Witchetty grub
The witchetty grub is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths...
, Yiwarra, or milky way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
, bandicoot
Bandicoot
Bandicoots are a group of about 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia.- Etymology :...
and Two Women. All are associated with the area around Kunajarrayi, or Mount Nicker, an important ceremonial site in the Northern Territory near the Western Australian border. Some of these dreaming stories are shared with other prominent artists, including Paddy Japaljarri Sims, one of the initiators of the Yuendumu doors project, widely considered the genesis of the contemporary Indigenous art movement.
Sheila Brown is one of a group of artists who contributed some major major collaborative works. In 1994 she was one of the artists responsible for Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa (Women's Dreaming), held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The work was exhibited in the gallery as part of the Gamarada exhibition of 1996–97. In 1996 Sheila Brown was one of the twenty-nine women and five men who collaborated to produce Karrku Jukurrpa, a work commissioned for the collection of John Kluge and exhibited in the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection
Kluge-Ruhe Museum
The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia houses one of the finest indigenous Australian art collections in the world, rivaling many of the collections held in Australia...
at the University of Virginia. The painting assembles a range of mythological symbols and stories associated with the people and country around Yuendumu.