Debra McDonald Nangala / Watiya Tjuta

A Pintupi artist from a major Papunya painting lineage who was encouraged by Mitjili Napurrula. She carries inherited narratives of Lake MacDonald and Watiya Tjuta into her contemporary practice. She is the granddaughter of a founding member of the famous Papunya art-making group, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi (c.1920-1987), from Lake MacDonald in the Gibson Desert. Debra McDonald Nangala is a Pintupi artist, born in 1963 at Papunya Camp, NT.

In 1948 Shorty moved to Haasts Bluff and then Papunya where he stayed until his death in 1987. He passed on the narratives of his country of Lake MacDonald to Debra. After Mitjili’s passing, Debra became custodian of the dreaming narrative of the Watiya Tjuta which features regularly in her artworks. Debra’s mother, Martha MacDonald was also an accomplished artist and her uncle is Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, AO, one of Australia’s most renowned painters.