Bess Napanangka Poulson

Bess Napanangka Poulson was born in 1972 and comes from Yuendumu Community approximately 300km from Alice Springs in Central Australia. Bess was born into a family of artists, her mother is Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels and her sister is Portia Napanangka Michaels, both well-known Warlukurlangu artists. Bess attended school in Yuendumu and when she finished worked in the community before relocating to Nyirripi to be closer to her family. She began painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 2009.

Warlukurlangu Artists provides an outlet for Warlpiri artists to paint their cultural heritage and earn income from their work. This service is extended to Nyirripi artists, on a weekly basis, by delivering canvas and paint to artists and picking up finished artwork in Nyirripi. Bess paints her mother’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the flora and fauna that inhabit it. These stories have been passed down through the generations for millennia.