Biography

Nicole Napaljarri Stevens was born in 1995 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Papunya, a remote Aboriginal community 246 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She grew up in Papunya, first attending the local school then completing her secondary school education in Alice Springs. Nicole is married to the son of Agnes Nampijinpa Fry, a well-known Yuendumu artist living in Yuendumu. Nicole met and married her husband when he was living in Papunya. They moved to Yuendumu in 2019.                                                                

Nicole has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2019. She paints her Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) – Mikanji – a water course west of Yuendumu. The Jukurrpa or “Dreaming” is the basis of Aboriginal culture and law, and the telling of the Jukurrpa, passed down through the generations for millennia, through art keeps the spirit of the Dreaming alive. Nicole uses different techniques to incorporate different aspects of her Jukurrpa, into her paintings, using a creative combination to blend traditional motifs with her own ideas of modern design. 

When not painting, Nicole spends time with her husband, friends, and family out bush, visiting Papunya or participating in Community events.