Artist Country - Nyilla (Jupiter Well), 1992

75 x 50 cm

Est. $800 – $1,200

Hammer $650

Provenance: Warlayirti Artists, WA, Cat No. 197/92 Framed Darwin, Anne Phelan (Director) Private Collection, Albany NY
Artwork story: Nowee Nangala was born into the Kukatja-speaking community of Balgo and is closely associated with the early years of Warlayirti Artists. Her work centres on Nyilla (Jupiter Well), a site of profound ancestral significance tied to Tingari narratives maintained by senior women. In this painting, concentric roundels mark the location of multiple waterholes across Country. Executed in 1992, the work displays the characteristic high-key palette and dense dotting that defined Balgo painting of the period, its rhythmic surface evoking both topography and song. The painting functions simultaneously as cartography and cosmology, affirming women’s custodial responsibilities while situating Nowee’s practice within the dynamic emergence of Balgo art in the early 1990s.

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Sale 2 · Lot 43

Nowee Nangala

b. 1971

75 x 50 cm

Est. $800 – $1,200

Hammer $650

Provenance: Warlayirti Artists, WA, Cat No. 197/92 Framed Darwin, Anne Phelan (Director) Private Collection, Albany NY
Artwork story: Nowee Nangala was born into the Kukatja-speaking community of Balgo and is closely associated with the early years of Warlayirti Artists. Her work centres on Nyilla (Jupiter Well), a site of profound ancestral significance tied to Tingari narratives maintained by senior women. In this painting, concentric roundels mark the location of multiple waterholes across Country. Executed in 1992, the work displays the characteristic high-key palette and dense dotting that defined Balgo painting of the period, its rhythmic surface evoking both topography and song. The painting functions simultaneously as cartography and cosmology, affirming women’s custodial responsibilities while situating Nowee’s practice within the dynamic emergence of Balgo art in the early 1990s.