Biography

Sarah-Jane Nampijinpa Singleton was born in 1984, in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. She is the daughter of Glorine Nungarrayi Martin and the granddaughter of Samson Japaljarri Martin (one of the founding members of Warlukurlangu Artists) and Uni Nampijinpa Martin, both renowned artists. Sarah-Jane grew up in Yuendumu. She attended the local primary school before going to Yirara College, in Alice Springs, a boarding school for Indigenous students.

Sarah-Jane has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu since 1999. From an early age, she attended the Art Centre with her mother and her extended family, watching, learning and listening to her family’s stories. She mainly paints her father’s Yankirri Jukurrpa – Ngarikurlangu (Emu Dreaming) and her Grandfather’ Walawurra Jukurrpa (Eagle Dreaming). These stories relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They have been passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennial. Sarah-Jane loves dot painting and working with colour and uses an unrestricted palette to depict her traditional iconography, at the same time developing a modern individualist style, using pattern and design in a variety of contexts.

Sarah-Jane is married and has three children. When she is not painting, she is at home caring for her children.