Helen Nelson Napaljarri [SEP] country of citizenship
Helen Nelson Napaljarri
Helen Nelson Napaljarri (born c. 1949), also known as Helen White Napajarri or Helen Spencer Napaljarri, is a Walpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. A literacy worker in Yuendumu, Northern Territory, Helen began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists in the 1980s. Her paintings are held by the Art Gallery of South Australia and South Australian Museum. She has contributed to several bilingual language books in Walpiri and English.
Life.
Helen was born circa 1949. The ambiguity around the
and "vice versa".
Dreamings are associated with particular skin names and individuals. Jimmy Jungurrayi relates the story "Patilirrikirli", a budgerigar dreaming associated with a location called Patilirri. This dreaming is specific to the Napaljarri / Tjapaljarri and Nungarrayi / Jungarrayi pairings of skin names. Dreamings associated with the Napaljarri women at Yuendumu include budgerigar, bush onion, witchetty grub and honey ant. These have been portrayed in paintings by artists such as Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy and Helen Nelson Napaljarri.
Prominent members of the skin name group