Biography

Nathan Jampijinpa Sunfly was born in 1985 in Derby Hospital, WA., the closest hospital to Wirrimanu (Balgo), a small Aboriginal community located on the boundary between the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert of central and Western Australia. He is the son of Sadie Nakamarra Padoon, and grandson of Bai Bai Napangardi Sunfly and the late Murtiyarru Jampininpa Sunfly, well established artists with Warlayirti Artists in Wirrimanu.  “I grew up with my Grandma and Grandpa”. Nathan attended the local Balgo school and when he finished school, he worked for the Community Development Employment Project (CDEP), working on building sites and the Rubbish Collection Service. In 2014 he moved to Nyrripi, an outstation of Yuendumu, with his wife and child. He is the newphew of Pauline Nangala Sunfly and Joy Nangala Brown, both artists who paint with Warlurkurlangu Art Centre.                                              

Nathan has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2017. He paints his grandfather’s Luurnpa Jukurrpa (Kingfisher Dreaming). “When I was a little boy I would sit with my grandparents (Bai Bai Napangardi and Sunfly Tjampitjin) and they would teach me many Jukurrpa stories as I watched them paint.” These stories have been passed down for millennia.