Michelle Butler Nakamarra / Women’s Ceremony (MB42)

Michelle Butler Nakamarra is a young artist from the Tjukurla region of Western Australia. Tjukurla community is located in Western Australia close to the border of the Northern Territory and 810kms from Alice Springs. The community sits alongside Lake Hopkins, a large salt lake with surrounding country dominated by sandhills, claypans and desert oak trees.

As a youngster, Michelle would watch her famous relatives paint. Her uncle is senior artist George Ward Tjungurrayi and her grandmother is the late Ningura Napurrula. In her late teens she began painting and hasn’t looked back.

Michelle’s art is becoming increasingly popular, with a number of galleries exhibiting her vibrant works which are rich in colour and tell the women’s stories from her country.

Michelle paints ‘Women’s Ceremony’ depictions of her country and the sacred women’s sites in the area surrounding Tjukurla in the Western Desert of 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. Michelle paints traditional designs using a vibrant colour palette.