LORNA NAPURRULA FENCER
Lorna Napurrula Fencer
c1924 - 2006
Out of respect for her family, and in accordance with Aboriginal custom, the artist's image has been removed until further notice.
Region: Lajamanu
Community Centre: Warnayaka Arts Centre, Lajamanu
Lorna Napurrula Fencer was born about 1924 at Yartulu Yartulu, and is custodian of inherited land, Yumurrpa, situated near Chilla Well, south of the Granites Mine Area of the Tanami Desert. Her father's country is Wapuurtarli. In 1949 many Warlpiri, including Lorna Napurrula, were forcibly transported to the government settlement of Lajamanu at Hookers Creek, situated in the country of the Gurindji people, 400 kilometres to the north of their own country around Yuendumu. Lorna Napurrula nevertheless maintained and strengthened her cultural identity through ceremonial activity and art, and has asserted her position as a prominent elder and teacher in the community.
The travels of Napurrula and Nakamarra kinship or "skin" groups are the inspiration for Lorna Napurrula's work. She is custodian of the Dreamings associated with bush potato (yarla), caterpillar (luju), bush onion, yam and also bush tomato, bush plum, many different seeds, and, (importantly) water, for the Napurrula, Nakamarra, Jupurrula, and Jakamarra skin groups. She has been painting since the mid 1980s, initially in enamel paint and gouache on cardboard and used building materials for use in the bilingual community school in Lajamanu.
In 1997 Lorna Napurrula Fencer was awarded the John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize at the National Gallery of Victoria. Frances Lindsay, Deputy Director of the NGV, said of Lorna Napurrula Fencer’s award, “The John McCaughey Art Prize has a proud tradition of supporting Australia's finest painters and ensuring their representation in the National Gallery of Victoria.” She also won the Conrad Jupiter Casino, Gold Coast City Art Award, Queensland, in the same year.
Solo Exhibitions
2005 Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Yumurrpa - New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery. Melbourne
2003 Lorna Napurrula Fencer – Paintings 2003, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
2003 Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Gow Langsford Gallery, Sydney
2003 Lorna Napurrula Fence, Paintings from Yumarlpa, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Lorna Fencer - Inner Spring - New Works from the Tanami, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
2002 Lorna Napurrula Fencer - The Big Picture, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
Group Exhibitions
2004 Colour Power, Aboriginal Art post 1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2004 Summer Salon, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2001 Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
2000 Opening of Yuwayi Art Centre, Yuwayi Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2000 Lajamanu, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
1999 Yapa, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1998 Wild Warlpiri Women, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney
1998 Warnayaka Warlpiri, Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin
1998 6th Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Exhibition Building, Melbourne
1998 Yulyulu, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1998 Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
1997- 1998 John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1997 Me Warlpiri, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1997 Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1997 Women's Body Paint, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1996 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1994 Yapakurlangu Wirrkardu, Batchelor College, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
1991 Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court of Australia
1991 Paint Up Big: Warlpiri Women's Art from Lajamanu, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1991 Aboriginal Art, Australian Embassy, Washington USA
1988 People, Place and Art, Hilton International Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia
Collections
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Museum & Art Galleries of the NT, Darwin
Artbank, Sydney
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD
Holmes A Court Collection, Perth
Laverty Collection, Sydney
Gantner Myer Collection of Aboriginal Art
Margaret Carnegie Collection
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
Leeuwin Estate
Awards
1997 Conrad Jupiters Casino, Gold Coast City Art Award
1997 John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria
Select Bibliography
Ryan J, 2004, Colour Power: Aboriginal Art post 1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Ryan, J., Paint up Big Warlpiri Women's Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Glowczewski, B., Yapa, Peintres Aborigines de Balgo et Lajamanu, 1991 Lebon Gallery, Paris, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
Johnson, V., The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales
Isaacs, J., Spirit Country - Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, South Yarra, Victoria