Eunice Napanangka Jack by Eunice Napanangka Jack

Eunice is an acclaimed Luritja, Ngaanyatjarra and Pintupi artist; born in 1940 at Lupul in the Sir Frederick Ranges. When Eunice was a little girl shortages of food forced her family east towards the ration stations being set up in central Australia. She remembers the travels with her family very vividly and refers to it as when her mother carried her piggy back all the way from Western Australia to Haasts Bluff.

An important woman in her community, Eunice is well known for her hunting skills, dancing and traditional law knowledge. Kumuntjai started painting with the opening of the Ikuntji Women’s Centre in August of 1992, and from 1993 to today has exhibited widely around Australia and the world. Her father Tutuma Tjapangarti was one of the original Papunya Tula painters, and during the 1970s she worked with her husband Gideon Tjupurrula Jack who was painting at Papunya Tula. Eunice paintings are interpretations of her country near Lake Mackay. She uses layers of colour to build up a vision of the bush flowers and grasses. Amongst this landscape Eunice’s personal stories are told, either of the travelling of her Tjukurrpa -the Bilby- or the people who once lived in the area.