View artwork by Martha McDonald Napaltjarri
Born at Haasts Bluff c.1940, Martha McDonald Napaltjarri (also known by her ‘bush name’ of Tjulata) is the daughter of founding Papunya Tula ar st Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi and his first wife. Shorty also married Martha’s mother’s sister Napulu Nangala a er the death of her first husband and raised her six children (Linda, Wintjiya, Pamela, Brenda, Donald and Paul) as his own. Martha never a ended school, except as a ‘house girl’ or cleaner for the upstairs part of the school. She also worked with linguist John Heffernan in the Papunya Literature produc on and Adult Educa on program and in the Papunya pre-school alongside her sister Linda Tjunkaya Syddick Napaltjarri. Martha is very proud of her language and is a skilled teacher, always offering to teach language to visitors and staff at the art centre. She married Snowy McDonald and together they had two sons and a daughter, Deborah, who now lives in Adelaide. Martha resides in the tranquil surroundings of Blackwater outsta on, a few kilometers outside Papunya, with Deborah’s son John Sco Rowe and his wife Margaret Lane and their two sons and one daughter, along with John’s sister Janet and her husband Daniel Long and their three children. Martha has been pain ng for a long me, but said that she had not learnt from watching her father since “in those days only men, no kungka [women]” painted (pers. Comm. 2009). She began pain ng in 2008 for Papunya Tjupi and rapidly emerged as a talented painter. She is inspired by her fathers pain ng and memories of visi ng her fathers country Warlukuritji and the stories she knows about it. She is an important elder in the Papunya community and a Director of Papunya Tjupi Arts. In 2015 she had her first sell-out solo show at RAFT Artspace in Alice Springs.
Solo Exhibitions
2015 Tjingurru: Martha McDonald Napaltjarri : RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs
Group Exhibitions
2016 Papunya Tjupi Arts : Incinerator Art Space, Honey Ant Gallery, Sydney
2015 A Start with No End: Print Exhibition : The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Nanjing Academy of Fine Arts, Nanjing; Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Wuhan, China.
2015 TARNANTHI Art Fair: Works of Significance : Art Gallery of South Australia 2015 Streets of Papunya: The Reinvention of Papunya Painting : UNSW Galleries 2015 Desert Mob : Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
2015 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair : Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin
2015 Kungka Tjupi: New work from the women of Papunya Tjupi : Outstation Gallery, Darwin
2015 New Narratives: Papunya Tjupi Prints with Cicada Press 2006-2014 : Kluge-Ruhe Museum – UVa Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
2014 Desert Mob : Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
2014 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair : Darwin Convention Centre
2014 Seoul – Sydney: Contemporary Korean and Australian Prints : UNSW Galleries, Sydney 2014 Seoul Open Art Fair 2014 : Seoul, Korea
2014 Garden of Eden : Talapi Gallery, Alice Springs
2014 Ngurra Nganampa (Community) : Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane
2013 Papunya Tjupi: New Work : Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney
2013 Desert Mob : Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
2013 11th Annual Printmaking Exhibition : Chinese Academies and Colleges, Guangzhou, China
2013 Master Print Show 2013 : Cicada Press, Kent House Gallery Burwood
2013 Kapingka punganynka Tjupi tjutarringanyi : Marshall Arts, Adelaide
2012 Cicada Press : Flinders Street Gallery, Sydney
2012 Personal Space: Contemporary Chinese and Australia Prints : Guanlan OriginalPrint Base, East Gallery, Shenshen, China 2012 Academy of Fine Arts : Xian Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
2012 Desertmob : Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
2012 Papunya Tjupi : Mina Mina Gallery, Queensland
2012 Papunya Tjupi : Marshall Arts, Adelaide
2012 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair : Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin
2011 Collaboration and Connection : Incinerator Art Space, Willoughby
2011 Kuwarritja Tjutaku Papunya Tjupinya : Chapman Gallery Canberra
2011 The International Art on Paper Exhibition : Chiang Mai University Art Museum 2011 Desert Mob : Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2011 Papunya Tjupi Arts : Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney
2011 UNSW International Showcase : UNSW Kensington, Sydney
2011 New Prints from Papunya Tjupi Arts : Nomad Art, Canberra and Darwin
2011 Papunya Tjupi Arts : ARTKelch Gallery, Germany
2011 Papunya Tjupi : Mina Mina Gallery, Queensland
2010 Bowen Galleries : Wellington New Zealand
2010 Aboriginal Dreams : Karachi Pakistan
2010 Building Papunya Tjupi : Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
2010 Tjukurrpa: Papunya Tjupi Arts : Mossenson Galleries, Melbourne
2010 Desert Stories Papunya Tjupi Now : Gecko Galery, Broome
2010 Desert Mob : Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2010 Papunya Power : Art Mob Gallery, Hobart
2010 Papunya Tjupi Arts Group Exhibition : Randell Lane Fine Art, Perth
2009 Art Sydney : Printworks Cicada Press
2009 Desert Mob : Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2009 Introducing Papunya Tjupi and Ampilatawatja : Gallery Gondwanna, Alice Springs 2009 Papunya Tjupi Group Show :
2009 Building Papunya Tjupi : Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
2009 Papunya Tjupi : Honey Ant Gallery, Sydney
2009 Kalipinypa : Mossenson Galleries, Melbourne
2007 Papunya Tjupi: A New Beginning : Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney Collections
Collections:
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY
UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, Art & Design, Sydney