'Paddy Japaljarri Stewart'
ceramics
'Ruth Napaljarri Stewart'
'Judy Napangardi Watson'
'Shorty Jangala Robertson'
'Liddy Napanangka Walker'
'Paddy Japaljarri Sims'
'Debbie Napaljarri Brown'
'Bessie Nakamarra Sims'
'Espresso cups sets'
'Tea bag holders'
'Collector Plates'
cosmetic bags
'Ruth Napaljarri Stewart'
'Liddy Napanangka Walker'
umbrellas
'Ruth Napaljarri Stewart'
'Judy Napangardi Watson'
'Shorty Jangala Robertson'
travel bags & wallets
'Judy Napangardi Watson'
'Shorty Jangala Robertson'
'Debbie Napaljarri Brown'
'Wallets'
linen tote bags
'Judy Napangardi Watson'
'Shorty Jangala Robertson'
'Bessie Nakamarra Sims'
artists
'Artist Bios'
Royalties from these products directly
benefit the artist and their community.
Paddy Japaljarri Stewart is from Mungapunju, just south of Yuendumu. When he was a young man he
was a station worker at Mt Allen, Mt Dennison and up the top end. He worked as a chef in Papunya,
hence his nickname ‘Cookie’. For a very long time now he has been living in Yuendumu. Cookie worked at
the Yuendumu school teaching young kids, both kardiya and yapa (non aboriginal and aboriginal). He
taught painting, jukurrpa (dreaming), tracking (dingo, kangaroo, goanna etc...), how to make wax for the
sand painting, dancing, making boomerangs and many other important culture traditions. Each day Paddy
drove the school bus that collected the kids. He was also involved in the council here and in Night Patrol.
Night Patrol has been absolutely invaluable as a yapa (aboriginal) policing body. Cookie has been drawing
and painting for a long time, including working on the Yuendumu School Doors. He is presently the
chairman for the Warlukurlangu Artists Committee, and paints regularly.
In 1988 Paddy Stewart was selected by The Power Gallery, Sydney University to travel to Paris with five
other Warlpiri men from Yuendumu to create a ground painting installation at the exhibition 'Magiciens de la
Terre' at the Centre Georges Pompidou. The trip took place in May 1989 and the painting was received
with world wide acclaim. Paddy Japaljarri Stewart has been exhibiting artwork since 1985 throughout
Australia & around the world; including exhibitions in France, USA, Germany, UK, French Polynesia &
Amsterdam. Paddy Japaljarri Stewart is featured in the collections of Major Art Institutions in Australia and
around the world.
Ruth Napaljarri Stewart
Resides in Yuendumu, Northern Territory, Australia - Part of the Warlpiri Group
Ruth Napaljarri Stewart has been exhibiting artwork since 1986 throughout Australia and around the
world; including exhibitions in England, USA, New Zealand, Germany & Scotland. Ruth Napaljarri Stewart
is featured in the collections of Major Art Institutions in Australia and around the world.
Judy Napangardi Watson
Judy Watson was born at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, at the time when many Warlpiri & other Central
& Western Desert Peoples were living a traditional nomadic life. With her family Judy made many trips on
foot to her country & lived for long periods at Mina Mina & Yingipurlangu, her ancestral country on the
border of the Tanami & Gibson Deserts. Judy was taught painting by her elder sister, Maggie Napangardi
Watson. She painted alongside her at Warlukurlangu artists for a number of years, developing her own
unique style. She is at the forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa by Warlpiri
artists, however her work retains strong kurruwarri, the details which tell of the sacredness of place and
song in her culture. Judy Napangardi Watson has been exhibiting artwork since 1990 througout Australia
& around the world including exhibitions in England, USA, China, Japan & The Netherlands, Her works are
featured in several major collections.
Shorty Jangala Robertson
Shorty Jangala Robertson was born at Jila (Chilla Well), a large soakage and claypan north west of
Yuendumu. He lived a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle with his parents, older brother and extended
Warlpiri family. They travelled vast distances across desert country, passing through Warlukurlangu,
south west of Jila and Ngarlikurlangu, north of Yuendumu, visiting Jangala’s, his skin brothers.
He finally settled at Yuendumu in 1967 after the Australian Citizen Referendum. It is extraordinary in all his
travels and jobs over his whole working life, that he escaped the burgeoning and flourishing Central
Desert art movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Thus Shorty’s paintings are fresh, vigorous and new. His
use of colour to paint and interpret his dreamings of Ngapa (Water), Watiyawarnu (Acacia), Yankirri (Emu)
and Pamapardu (Flying Ant) is vital, yet upholding the Warlpiri tradition. This fledgling artist well in his 70’s
is an active member of Warlukurlangu Co-operative. He lives at Yuendumu with his wife and artist Lady
Nungarrayi Robertson.
Shorty Jangala Robertson has been exhibiting artwork since 2002 throughout Australia & around the
world. His first solo exhibition at Alcaston Gallery in 2003 was met with great artistic acclaim and his
works are featured in several major collections.
Liddy Napanangka Walker
Liddy Napanangka Walker was born at Mt Doreen and spent her younger years living with her family in
bush camps. She regularly visits her country around Mt Theo and west of Yuendumu. She has lived in
Yuendumu, a Warlpiri community in the Tanami 300km Northwest of Alice Springs, since it was first
established and has worked in the community in various pastoral care roles including as a cook.She
started painting on canvas not long after Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association was established
and is now one of its most senior members.
Liddy Napanangka Walker has been exhibiting artwork since 1985 throughout Australia and around the
world; including exhibitions in: England, USA, France, Germany, The Netherlands, South Korea, UAE &
Singapore. Liddy’s works featured in the collections of Major Art Institutions in Australia and around the
world.
Paddy Japaljarri Sims
Paddy was born in about 1917 at Kunajarray (Mt Nicker), south-west of Yuendumu at a site where a
number of Dreaming tracks interconnect. Japaljarri's Dreamings are Yiwarra (Milky Way), ngarlkirdi/warna
(witchetty grub/snake), pirntirna (female python), jilwirringki (burrowing skunk), wanakiji (bush plum) and
warlpa (wind).
Paddy has been painting for Warlukurlangu for a long time. In 1988 Paddy Sims was selected by The
Power Gallery, Sydney University to travel to Paris with five other Warlpiri men from Yuendumu to create
a ground painting installation at the exhibition 'Magiciens de la Terre' at the Centre Georges Pompidou. The
trip took place in May 1989 and the painting was received with world wide acclaim. Paddy was also one
of the senior male artists who worked on the Yuendumu Doors.
He has painted and exhibited regularly with Warlukurlangu Artists both nationally and internationally since
1985. His work has been included in numerous general exhibitions of Aboriginal art including Dreaming:
The Art of Aboriginal Australia, The Asia Society Galleries, New York, 1988; The Continuing Tradition,
Australian National Gallery, Canberra, 1989; Mythscapes: Aboriginal Art of the Desert, National Gallery of
Victoria, Melbourne, 1989; Lete Australian Montpellier, Musee Fabre, France, 1990. Paddy Japaljarri Sims
is featured in the collections of Major Art Institutions in Australia and around the world.
Debbie Napaljarri Brown
Debbie lives in Nyirrpi, a remote Aboriginal community 400 kms north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern
Territory of Australia. Debbie grew up in Nyirrpi, and did most of her schooling there, although she spent
several years boarding at Yirara college in Alice Springs. Debbie is married and has one child, Jarvis. She
works helping to care for old people at Nyirrpi, and at the store. In her paintings, Debbie paints Dreamings
which relate directly to her land, its features, plants and animals. These stories were passed down to her
by her father and mother and their parents before them for millennia.
Bessie Nakamarra Sims
"I like painting cause it's my Dreaming - Bush Carrot, Yam Dreaming…From my father and grandfather's
side. I like to teach kids my Dreaming. I want everyone to know my Dreaming from all over the world. I
know and they can know…" Bessie Sims is the wife of Paddy Japaljarri Sims, they have 7 children and
many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Bessie was born in the bush and lived for many years
before coming into contact with white people at Mt. Doreen Station, west of Yuendumu. She now lives in
South Camp in Yuendumu and is an active member of Yuendumu Night patrol which helps keep Yuendumu
a safe community. In her spare time she goes hunting for wardapi (goanna) and bush tucker such as
yarla (bush potato) and yakajirri (bush tomato). Bessie Nakamarra Sims has been exhibiting artwork since
1986 throughout Australia & around the world; including exhibitions in: New Zealand, USA, Germany,
England, Scotland, French Polynesia, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and South Korea. Bessie’s works
are featured in the collections of Major Art Institutions in Australia and around the world.
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