Biography

Alma Nangala Robertson was born in 1969 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She was born into a family of artists and would watch her family paint when she was a little girl. Her mother and her grandparents have since passed away but her father Eddie Robertson and her brother Ellsworth Jangala Robertson still paint. She also has a sister. Alma is married to Steven Jungarrayi Collins, an artist who also works with Warlukurlungu Artists. She has three sons and one daughter and an adopted son as well as two grandsons. Alma attended Yuendumu local school before going to Yarara, a boarding college in Alice Springs for Year 8 and 9 students. When she finished schooling she returned to Yuendumu where she worked for the Nutrition Program for many years. She worked on programs including the Skinny Kids Program, the Strong Baby Program and Nutrition at School Program. Alma has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 1992. She paints her mother’s and father’s Jukurrpa stories, in particular Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming) from her mother’s side and her Watiyawarnu Jukurrpa (Seed Dreaming) from her father’s side. She uses traditional shapes and an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.