Biography

Lyn Napangardi Ward (born 1978) grew up in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She first attended the local school, then Yirara College, in Alice Springs, a boarding school for indigenous students.

Lyn began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 2008. She later married and has been busy bringing up her daughter. It wasn’t until 2018, that she was able to commit herself fully to her painting.

Lyn paints her Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) – Pirlinyamu. Water Dreaming relating directly to her land, (Pirlinyamu/Mt. Farewell west of Yuendumu), its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories have been passed down through the generations for millennia. Initially, Lyn used traditional iconography but over time has developed an individualistic style using small dots, lines, and a monochromatic palette to depict her traditional Ngapa Jukurrpa.

When Lyn is not painting, she spends time with her family and friends at home and at community activities.