Alice Nampitjinpa

Alice Nampitjinpa is a Pintupi artist from the Kintore area on the Western Australian border. Born in 1943 Alice spent her early adult years working at the Kintore School teaching the young girls traditional ceremonial dances. Alice’s late father, Uta Uta Tjangala was one of the original Papunya Tula painters.

Alice first became involved in painting during a collaborative canvas project between Kintore and Haasts Bluff communities titled “Minyama Tjukurrpa”. Alice’s paintings are influenced by her extensive cultural knowledge and inspired by her Dreaming stories and lore.

Alice’s Dreaming is that of porcupine (Tjilkamata). Alice inherited this Dreaming or Tjukurrpa from her father’s country – Ngurrapalangu. The Dreaming talks of the porcupine who was travelling through the sand hills and passed near two carpet snakes; Kuniya kutjurra, who were living underneath the water, Alice’s story talks of the porcupine often scurrying about at rock holes searching for food in hiding places whilst women are nearby hunting for the porcupine. Alice will only paint the entrance to the caves in the area to signify the unknown danger that may lurk within. Her artworks often use bright colours particularly those that resemble traditional ochre colours such as yellow, orange, and white. These mirror traditional ceremonial body paints.

Alice continues to play a key role in her community as a “Dancing woman”; this involves her traveling to many different communities to participate in annual ceremonies and women’s law meetings. She is a keen hunter and enjoys going on hunting trips with the other women in the community.

Alice is not only a painter but she also enjoys producing hand-spindled hair string for ceremonies and Ininti seed jewellery. Ininti seeds are collected from the bush and then a hot wire is used to pierce the seed to thread string through. Ininti seeds can be found in a variety of different colours with hues of red, orange and yellow.