Biography

Helen Nampijinpa Robertson was born in 1944 in Mt Doreen, an extensive cattle breeding station about 55 km west of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. Helen is the daughter of Shorty Jangala Robertson, a well-known artist who also paints with Warlukurlangu Artists. As the daughter of Shorty Jangala Robertson, she attended bush school, travelling around the country with her family in the traditional way – learning about the bush, her sites and the traditional ways of her country – before settling in Yuendumu. Yuendumu is a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Central Desert of Australia. Helen is married to Johnny Japaljarri Brown-Possum, a traditional Warlpiri dancer who has travelled all over the world as well as a well-known artist who paints with Warlukurlangu Artists. They have four daughters and two sons and lots of grandchildren. Helen and her husband have travelled extensively but now move between Alice Springs and Yeundumu, spending more and more time at Yuendumu to be with family and friends. Helen has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in Yuendumu, since 2008. She likes painting because it is about her dreaming, in particular her Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) and Ngurlu Jukurrpa (Seed Dreaming). These dreamings have been passed down to her from her father’s side and his parents before him for millennia. All these stories relate directly to her traditional country, the features of the landscape, the food and animals found in those places. Helen is happy to be living in Yuendumu where is she is close to family and where she is able to go hunting for bush tucker and for goanna. She also has more time to paint her stories.