Lydia Young Nungurrayi / Women’s Ceremony (LY02)

Lydia Young Nungurrayi was born in 1992 and comes from a family of artists. Her area is Central & Western desert and her tribe is Pintupi. Lydia is the daughter of Marlene Young Nungurrayi and Adrian Young Tjupurrula. Her grandfathers are Tommy Lowry Tjapaltjarri and world renowned artist Doctor George Tjapaltjarri. In turn, these family members are connected to many famous artists including Nosepeg Tjupurrula, Fred Ward Tjungurrayi, Turkey Tolson and many others.

Lydia’s main Dreaming stories include important women’s dreamings and the body paint designs associated with them. Lydia’s use of thick layered paint is one of her trademarks.

Lydia lives in the remote community of Tjurkula, WA with her husband and two small daughters.

Lydia paints ‘Women’s Ceremony’ depictions of her country and the sacred women’s sites between the communities of Kintore and Kiwirkurra in the Western Desert of Central Australia. Her people would conduct important ceremonies at these sites and tell stories of travelling ancestors who would gather at these sites to rest, sing and dance. Lydia’s choice of colours represent the more traditional pigments used for ground designs and body decoration. Her sense of design and movement shows the close association between painted images and the physical landscape.