Women's Ceremonyby Kim Butler Napurrula

Kim Butler Napurrula was born on 8th March 1971 in the bush near Titjikala Community in the Western Desert of Central Australia. She is the daughter of highly acclaimed artist Anatjari Tjakamarra. Anatjari was one of the original groups of painters at Papunya community who with the assistance of Geoffrey Bardon embarked on a journey which not only formed Papunya Tula Artists but also shaped the Western Desert Art Movement in 1972. Kim’s family are known as some of the last Aboriginal people to walk about of the desert as they began to settle at Papunya from 1966 onwards. Katarra Napaltjarri, who is Anatjari’s second wife, is Kim’s mother.

Needless to say that Kim has been exposed to modern forms of art depiction her whole life; she has also been a part of living a considerably traditional lifestyle and even now continues to participate in ceremonies and hunting for bush tucker as a traditional Pintupi woman would.

Kim has been painting for several years now and her primary depictions centre around her country and representing the important women’s ceremonies and sacred sites found between Kintore and Kiwirrkurra Communities.

With the use of traditional iconography and symbols Kim’s artworks tell the stories of women participating in ceremonies. The dotted lines represent the body markings that are applied to women during these sacred ceremonies. The U shapes which are often seen in her paintings represent the women. Her artworks use traditional natural colour schemes which can be created by grounding ochre rocks and adding water to create a paste which traditionally would be applied to the body for ceremonial purposes.

Kim is an emerging artist and her artworks can be found in several well known galleries around Australia. She lives in Titjikala with her mother raising her young daughter and continues to develop and evolve as an artist.

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