#48 Sandhills Dreaming (Blue) Debbie Napaljarri Brown 64 x 97cm

Region:  Nyirripi, NW Alice Springs NT

Language:  Warlpiri, Nyirripi

Medium:  Acrylic on Canvas

Completed: 29 July 2022

Title:  Sand Hills Dreaming

Biography:

Debbie Napaljarri Brown was born in Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community 400 km North West of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.

She grew up in Nyirrpi and did most of her schooling there although she spent several years boarding at Yirrara College in Alice Springs.  When she returned to Nyirripi she worked at the Store as well as helping to care for old people.  In 2010 Debbie moved to Yuendumu 160 kms East of Nyirripi with her Husband and Son Jarvis to be closer to the Husband's family.  She works for the Women's Centre cooking lunches for the kids at School.  Her Grandmother, Margaret Napangardi Brown, also an Artist, taught her to paint.  Her Grandfather is the renowned Pintupi Artist, Pegleg Tjampitjinpa, who was born in c.1920 and grew up in the vicinity of Wilkinkarra, living a traditional life.

Debbie would watch her Grandmother and Grandfather paint and listen to her Grandmother's Jukurrpa or Dreaming stories.  In her paintings, Debbie paints her Father's Jukurrpa and Dreamings which relate to her Land, its features and animals.  These stories were passed down to her by her Grandmother and her Mother and their parents before them for millennia.