Biography

Nola Napangardi Fisher was born in 1958 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Central Desert of Australia. She went to the local school and has completed further studies in Health at Batchelor College, Darwin. In 1995 Nola received a Department of Health Certificate of Appreciation for 10 Years Service. In her early years of her career she ran the health clinic in Nyirripi and now works for the Department of Health in Yuendumu. She was married and has three children, one daughter and two son and many grandchildren. Nola has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in Yuendumu, since 2004. Nola paints Ngurlu Jukurrpa (Native Seed Dreaming),Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming) and Yuparli Jukurrpa (Bush Banana Dreaming) from her father’s side and Janganpa Jukurrpa (Possum Dreaming) from her mother’s side, as well as several sites that have belonged to her family for millennia. All the stories relate directly to the food, animals and features of her traditional country. Nola still regularly likes to go out with a group of women to collect these traditional foods. Nola likes to paint colourful representations of her Jukurrpa stories, stories she would like to pass down to her grandchildren. She would also like to pass down her stories to non-Aboriginal people so that they will better understand the Aboriginal ways. “When I’m on holidays I sometimes paint and sell my paintings to tourists in the city so that they will hear my stories.”