Louise Numina Napananka / Women’s Ceremony (LON478)

Louise Numina Napanangka was born in 1976 and is an Anmatyerre artist from the Stirling Station and Ti Tree region of Central Australia. She is the daughter of senior artist and cultural elder Barbara Price Mbitjana and the late Douglas Pananka Petyarre.

Louise is one of the well-known Numina Sisters, together with Jacinta, Lanita, Selina, Caroline and Sharon Numina, all established artists in their own right. The sisters come from an important family of Central Australian artists. Their paternal aunties include renowned Utopia painters Gloria Petyarre and Kathleen Petyarre, who played an important role in teaching Louise and her sisters to paint and in passing on the cultural stories and designs associated with their family and Country.

Louise grew up at Stirling Station, south of Tennant Creek, where she attended primary school before continuing her education at Yirara College in Alice Springs. After completing school she returned to Stirling Station and worked with the Community Development Program. Louise later moved to Darwin, where she studied at Nungalinya College and went on to complete a Diploma of Fine Arts through Northern Territory University.

Louise’s best-known paintings are her Bush Medicine Leaves, characterised by layers of fluid, rhythmic brushstrokes that create a strong sense of movement across the canvas. The story relates to the gathering and preparation of bush medicine plants by women and to the knowledge surrounding their traditional uses. Louise’s interpretation of the leaves has developed into a distinctive contemporary style, ranging from subtle, closely related tones to striking combinations of vivid colour.

Her broader body of work draws upon cultural knowledge and stories connected to women’s lives and Country, including Bush Tucker, Women’s Ceremony and Awelye body designs, Water Soakage, Spinifex, bush yams and Mountain Devil or Thorny Devil Lizard stories. These subjects reflect knowledge passed between generations through family, ceremony and time spent on Country.

For Louise and the Numina Sisters, painting is also an important way of maintaining these connections. Knowledge of plants, water, food gathering, ceremony and ancestral stories is learned from older family members and carried forward by younger generations. Through their paintings, the sisters continue a strong artistic tradition that has emerged from the Utopia and wider Central Desert region.

Louise has exhibited in Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane and her paintings are held by collectors throughout Australia and internationally. She has also taken her designs beyond the traditional gallery setting through collaborations with Brisbane fashion designer Pia du Pradal, bringing her distinctive imagery into contemporary fashion and design.

Louise is based in Darwin and maintains strong connections with her family and Country in Central Australia, returning to the Stirling Station and Ti Tree region to visit relatives and spend time on Country.

Louise Numina Napanangka’s painting celebrates the strength, knowledge and cultural traditions of Aboriginal women. Her work depicts women gathering for ceremony, a time of teaching, song, dance and connection to Country.

The flowing lines, circles and rhythmic patterns evoke ceremonial body designs, gathering places and the landscape where these cultural traditions take place. Through ceremony, knowledge of Country, ancestral stories, bush foods, medicine and kinship is shared and passed from older women to younger generations.

Women’s Ceremony, often referred to as Awelye in Central Australia, is an important expression of women’s cultural knowledge and responsibility for Country. Through song, dance, storytelling and ceremony, women maintain connections between family, ancestors and the land.

Louise’s bold colours and intricate patterns bring a contemporary energy to these traditions, creating paintings that celebrate both the beauty of Country and the enduring strength of women’s culture.