Jorna Napurrula Nelson

Jorna Napurrula Nelson was born circa 1928 near Mt Doreen, west of Yuendumu (a remote Aboriginal community about 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT, Australia). A Warlpiri speaker, Jorna lived in both Yuendumu and Nyirripi (located about 150 kms to the south-west of Yuendumu), where she was to pass away in 2011. Mt Doreen is located between Nyirripi and Yuendumu.

She married Paddy Japanangka Lewis, Dorothy Napangardi’s father when he became a widow in the 1990s.

As a young girl and her early years growing up, Jorna lived a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle with her parents, travelling and learning about the desert country.

In 1946 Yuendumu was established, in 1947 a Baptist mission was established there and by 1955, like many of the Warlpiri people, Jorna and her family settled in the town. Two sisters, Peggy Napurrurla Poulson and Lorna Napurrurla Nelson were also painters.

Jorna began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation in 1987. She painted her mother and father’s Jukurrpa stories and Dreamings which relate directly to her country. These include the landscape, plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories, as was the tradition were passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia. Her paintings were generally stories about sacred sites, animals and plants which are commonly found in the country surrounding this community.

Bush tucker are still regularly collected and hunted today and Jorna loved to go out hunting with her family and friends. They would go hunting for goanna, kangaroo, snakes, and witchetty grubs as well as other bush tucker, such as native currants, bush potato and bush banana.