Marie Napurrulla

Marie Napurrulla was born in 1968 and has 7 children their ages range from 23 years to 9 months old. Marie has lived in Alice Springs for the past 8 and half years but originally came to Alice Springs to search for her family.

Both Marie's grandmothers were stolen generation as was her mother. Her grandmother was taken from her great grandmother, who was a traditional bush woman, at the age of 9. Marie's mother was born in Katherine and was only 6 weeks old when she was taken from her grandmother. Marie's mother was sent to Sydney to the Good Shepherd Convent at Ashfield where she was given an education and was trained as a nurse. She later married a non-Indigenous man and lived at Dora Creek near Lake Macquarie.

Marie is the oldest of three siblings and has always been interested in her Aboriginality. She felt returning to Alice Springs and learning her family's history was an important part of her own life's journey.

Her paintings depict her grandmother's journey from her home along the Luritja road between Uluru and Kings Canyon passing through Areyonga and finally arriving in Hermannsburg (Ntaria). Marie's grandmother made this journey for Christmas and other special occasions.

Marie had planned to write a book on her family, but has decided that for now her paintings tell her family stories.

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