DEBBIE BROWN NAPALTJARRI

Language: Pintupi
Community: Yuendumu, NT
Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation

Debbie Brown Napaltjarri was born in Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community 400km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She grew up in this community and went to school there as well as attending boarding school at Yirrara College for several years. When Debbie returned back to Nyirripi, she began work at a store as well as helping to care for old people.

In 2010 Debbie moved to Yuendumu, 160km east or Nyirripi, with her husband and son, to be closer to her husband’s family. It was here she worked for the Women’s Centre, cooking lunches for the kids at school.

Debbie was taught to paint by her grandmother, Margaret Napangardi Brown, who was part of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation – an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre, located in Yuendumu. Debbie herself has been paining for this centre since 2006, drawing inspiration from her grandmother and grandfather’s dreamtime stories. Debbie has also been commissioned to paint for the exclusive Yanda Aboriginal Art, and works of this provenance have been placed in International private and Institutional collections.

Debbie often creates paintings based on her father’s Jukurrpa (Dreaming) – a term referring to the creation period, when their ancestors roamed the world creating flora, fauna and all the geographical features of the landscape and how these relationships came to be and what they mean. These stories have been passed down through the maternal line for many generations.

Aesthetically, Debbie’s paintings are visually spectacular. The dotting is extremely fine, and the curvilinear lines she creates have an optical quality which appears like the shifting sands of he desert floor, caused by the wind.

Her work is included in the Zug Museum collection, Switzerland and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium, alongside leading Australian collections.

Debbie’s price points are affordable offering very good quality and large scaled artworks for the price- very good value.

Peek Gallery is one of few exclusive retail galleries representing the artwork of Debbie Brown Napaltjarri.