Biography

Elton Japangardi Granites was born on the 8th August 1987 at Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. He comes from a long line of artists including the late Paddy Japaljarri Sims (1916 – 2010) and Bessie Nakamarra Sims (1932 – 2012), two founding artists of Warlukurlangu Artists. He attended the local school in Yuendumu and presently works at the art centre assisting with preparation of art canvasses.                                                                                                         

Leo has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2013. When he paints he paints his Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) and Jini-panta Jukurrpa (Edible Fungus Dreaming). Stories that relate directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They are passed down to him by his parents and their parents before them for millennia.