Yukultji (Yurrkultji) Napangati

Yukultji Napangati was born in the Gibson Desert at Marruwa, a waterhole near Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay), around 1971. Until 1984, Yukultji lived a traditional, nomadic lifestyle having no contact whatsoever with western civilisation.

In 1984, Yukultji with her tribal group including Walala, Thomas and Warlimpirringa Tjapaltjarri walked out of the desert region west of Lake Mackay. When they arrived at the remote desert settlement of Kiwirrkurra, near the Northern Territory and Western Australia border, she and her family were confronted for the first time with non-Indigenous civilisation. They created an international media storm, and were labelled "the last nomads", "the lost tribe" and "the Pintupi Nine". In any event, they were the last ever Pintupi people that were forced to come into the white man's way of life, due to lack of water, food and poor living conditions in the desert after a prolonged drought.

Yukultji started painting for her community art centre, Papunya Tula Artists, in 1996. She chose to paint her mother's country, Marrapinti, using primarily ochre coloured acrylic paints rather than natural ochres. Since those early years, Yukultji has gradually developed and refining her artistic technique. Yukultji first paints the canvas earth red, priming the canvas to matching the desert country in which she lives. This base colour is sometimes overlayed with another black layer. Thus, the (red) earth and the (black) body become a single, integrated prime base for her work. From there, rows of dots in a restrained ochre palette are applied, creating a mesmerising representation of her country and the sacred site of Marrapinti.

Yukultji first gained recognition for her talent in 2006 when she was selected as a finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA). Her breathrough came in 2012 when she was awarded the Alice Art Prize. She has been a NATSIAA finalist on multiple subsequent occasions and in 2018 was awarded the Wynne Prize, Australia's most prestigous landscape art prize.

Yukultji has continued to grow and develop as an artists and whilst based in Kiwirrkurra, she also spends much time outside her community, broadening her artistic horizons and grwoing her art practice.

Today, Yukultji sits in the top echelon of Aboriginal artists and sits in leading public and private collections worldwide.