Ngoia Pollard

Ngoia Pollard was born circa 1948 in Haasts Bluff in central Australia, west of Alice Springs.

Ngoia Pollard began her contemporary artistic career by assisting her husband, who painted with Papunya Tula artists for several years prior to his death. In 1997, Ngoia Pollard began painting independently, and in 2004 won the first prize in a central Australian painting competition supported by the region's local newspaper, the Centralian Advocate.

In 2006, Ngoia Pollard won the painting prize in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, with her work 'Swamps west of Nyirripi'. Many of Ngoia's works relate to the region of Yamunturrngu (Mount Liebig), in the country to the west of Haasts Bluff; this is her father's country:

...infused with the spiritual power of the narrative of the water-snake. This snake lives in the swamps and lakes near Nyrippi (Talarada), unoccupied 'dangerous territory' north west of Mt. Liebig. The transcendental calm of her paintings, with their drifts of monochrome clouds of dots, belie the danger of the land and its creatures that they depict.

Her works are often characterised by the use of oval shapes representing swamps and lakes. Her palette is usually black and white, though red may be used to highlight oval forms. Other themes in her work include the sand hills of the desert country.

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Bibliography:

Birnberg, Margo; Janusz Kreczmanski (2004). Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region. Marleston, South Australia: J.B. Publishing.
Birnberg, Margo; Janusz Kreczmanski (2004). Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region. Marleston, South Australia: J.B. Publishing.
"Kinship and skin names". People and culture. Central Land Council.
De Brabander, Dallas (1994). "Sections". In David Horton. Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia. 2. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
"Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri "Swamp Near Nyrripi"". The Artery: Contemporary Aboriginal Art. 2007-2009.
Myers, Fred R. (1986). Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self: sentiment, place and politics among Western Desert Aborigines. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 45. ISBN 0520074114.
McCulloch Childs, Emily; Gibson, Ross (2008). New Beginnings: Classic Paintings from the Corrigan Collection of 21st Century Aboriginal Art. Fitzroy, VIC: McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books.
Bardon, Geoffrey; James Bardon (2006). Papunya – A place made after the story: The beginnings of the Western Desert painting movement. University of Melbourne: Miegunyah Press.
Dussart, Francoise (2006). "Canvassing identities: reflecting on the acrylic art movement in an Australian Aboriginal settlement". Aboriginal History
Strocchi, Marina (2006). "Minyma Tjukurrpa: Kintore / Haasts Bluff Canvas Project: Dancing women to famous painters". Artlink 26 (4).
"Winner Telstra Award". 23rd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory.
Johnson, Vivien (1994). "Introduction". Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary. Roseville East, NSW: Craftsman House.

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