Biography

Shaimaya Nampijinpa Brown was born in 2004 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community, 416 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She began her education at her local school, before attending Yirara College in Alice Springs, a boarding school for indigenous students.

Shaimaya began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu and Nyirripi, in 2018.  When young she would often accompany her parents and grandparents, watching and listening as they painted their Jukurrpa. Shaimaya paints her Luumpa Jukurrpa (Kingfisher Dreaming) – Lake MacKay, stories relating directly to country, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. She uses traditional iconology and an unrestricted palette to depict her traditional culture.                                                  

When she is not studying or painting, she enjoys going out bush or going to organised sports and discos, watching and listening to music.