Biography

Amanda Nakamarra Curtis was born in 1986, in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community, 460 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Central Desert of Australia. She was born into a family of artists, including Kelly Napanangka Michaels, her mother, Roy Jupurrurla Curtis, her father and Alice Nampijinpa Henwood Michaels, her Aunty. She has three sisters who also paint for Warlukurlangu Artists. Amanda spent most of her childhood in Nyirripi, where she attended the local school, before going to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. Upon completion of her studies she returned to Nyirripi where she has lived ever since. She is married and has one daughter. In 2007 Amanda began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs. Warlukurlangu Artists provides an outlet for Warlpiri artists to paint their cultural heritage and earn income from their work. This service is extended to Nyirripi artists, on a weekly basis, by delivering canvas and paint to artists and picking up finished artwork. Amanda paints her grandparent’s dreaming on her mother’s side, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, Mina Mina, a site of great religious significance far to the west of Yuendumu. Dreamings such as her Marrjadi Jukurrpa (Hairstring Belt or Tassel Dreaming) and Karntakulangu Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming- Mina Mina). She also paints Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming), stories from her father’s side. These stories have been passed down for millennia. “I like the patterns and all those colours, and the stories. Watching family painting, they show you the dreaming. Painting also keeps you busy!” When Amanda is not painting she likes to go hunting with her extended family.