In Napurrurla's paintings the strong narrative element of the Dreamings is extended through the use of vivid colour, the forms controlled and clearly delineated, at the same time as they are extravagant and sensual.
Biography  Lorna Napurrurla (Yulyulu) Fencer, whose bright, expressive canvasses have captured wide attention since the late 1980's, is a prominent and respected senior elder and teacher in her Warlpiri community. She is custodian of inherited land, Yumurrurpar, situated near Chilla Well, south of the Granites Mine Area of the Tanami Desert.
Born around 1924 in Yartulu Yartulu, in 1949 Napurrurla and many Warlpiri people were forcibly transported to the government settlement of Lajamanu at Hookers Creek, situated in the country of the Gurindji people, some four hundred kilometres to the north of their own country around Yuendumu. Napurrurla, however, furthered her connection with her people through the use of art and ceremony. Before 1986, when she began painting with acrylics on canvas, Napurrurla painted traditional women's coolamons and digging sticks for ceremony and for sale.
[Napurrurla] is custodian for the sacred country of Yumurrupar, and for the luju (caterpillar) and yarla (bush potato) Dreamings of this site. She has ancestral rights over seed, bush tomato, and plum Dreamings for the Napurrurla-Japurrurla, and Jakamarra-Nakamarra skin groups.(Kleinert & Neale p 586)
[please note that Naparrurla, Naparrula and Napurrurla are alternative spellings]
The Paintings Lorna Napurrurla Fencer is a pioneer of that free use of colour and brushstroke that is also associated with the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye, both women moving away from the traditional dot infilling and circling style of their peers.
There are, though, significant differences in their work. In Napurrurla's paintings the strong narrative element of the Dreamings is extended through the use of vivid colour, and the forms are controlled and clearly delineated, if at the same time they are extravagant and sensual. Different stories and subjects demand for her a different handling of the paint, and Napurrurla's work shows an aesthetic that is open to change and experimentation, as she uses a variety of techniques to build up her bright, striking paintings.
Napurrurla Fencer is a member of the artist's cooperative at Warnayaka Art Centre in Lajamanu and has participated in many group shows there. In 1997 she was awarded the Conrad Jupiter's Art Prize, and in 1998 she was invited to participate in the triennial John McCaughey Memorial Art Award at the National Gallery of Victoria. Her work is represented in many public and private collections in Australia and overseas.
Collections National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Museum & Art Galleries of the NT, Darwin
Artbank, Sydney
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD
Holmes A Court Collection, Perth
Laverty Collection, Sydney
Gantner Myer Collection of Aboriginal Art
Margaret Carnegie Collection
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
Major Private collections in Australia and overseas
Leewuin Estate
Exhibitions 1988, People, Place and Art, Hilton International Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia
1991, Aboriginal Art, Australian Embassy, Washington USA
1991, Paint Up Big: Warlpiri Womens Art from Lajamanu, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1991, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court of Australia
1994, Yapakurlangu Wirrkardu, Batchelor College, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
1996, All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1997, Womens Body Paint, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1997, Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1997, Me Warlpiri, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1997/8, John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1998, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
1998, Yulyulu, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1998, 6th Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Exhibition Building, Melbourne
1998, Warnayaka Warlpiri, Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin
1998, Wild Warlpiri Women, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney
1999, Yapa, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2000, Lajamanu, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
2000, Opening of Yuwayi Art Centre, Yuwayi Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2001, Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
2002, Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
2002, Lorna Napurrula Fencer The Big Picture, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2002, Lorna Fencer - Inner Spring New Works from the Tanami, Mary Place
Gallery, Sydney
Sources Johnson, Vivien. Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biograhical Dictionary, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1994
Isaacs, Jennifer. Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, South Yarra, Victoria
Kleinert, Sylvia & Neale, Margo (eds.): The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000
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