Francisca Nampijinpa Brown / Tingari Cycle (1874-23)

Artwork is accompanied by Warlukurlangu Artists (Yuendumu) Art Centre Certificate of Authenticity/Provenance

Francisca Nampijinpa Brown is the grand-daughter of Ronnie Tjampijinpa. She was born in Alice Springs hospital and grew up in Papunya community. She went to school in Papunya and at Kamilda College Darwin. She also attended Traegar Park High School in Alice Springs.

Francisca is married to Lesley Jupurrurla Walker. They have four kids, two boys and two girls. These children are also the great grand children of Liddy Napanangka Walker who was one of the founding Warlukurlangu Artists.

Francisca paints for Warlukurlangu Art Centre. Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation of Yuendumu was incorporated in 1986. Warlukurlangu is a not for profit organisation that has more than 600 members, all of whom are Indigenous artists. It is directed by an executive committee of eight men and eight women representing all the ‘skin groups’. It meets regularly to set policy, make decisions about the organisation and direct staff.

Established in 1985 Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation is a not-for-profit organisation that is 100% Aboriginal-owned by its artists from the remote desert communities of Yuendumu and Nyirripi in Central Australia.

Warlukurlangu Artists is famous for its gloriously colourful acrylic paintings and limited edition prints. The art centre has a national and international profile and its art has been featured in hundreds of exhibitions and publications in Australia and around the world.

Warlukurlangu means ‘belonging to fire’ in the local language, Warlpiri, and is named for a fire dreaming site west of Yuendumu.

The painting depicts a portion of the Tingari cycle, a very important collection of Dreaming narratives from the Western Desert region. The country in this painting is located far to the west of Yuendumu and spans the vast area across the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts. The cycle tells the story of a group of ancient creation ancestors known as the Tingari, who travelled across the country. The Tingari took different forms, some human and some animal. As the Tingari travelled over vast areas of country, they held initiations and other ceremonies, caused and encountered raging bushfires, hunted game and fought and killed one and another and brought them back to life. In the course of these adventures, they either created or became the physical features of the sites they visited, forming rocky outcrops, waterholes, trees, salt lakes and so on.