Biography

Warlpiri, b 1982 Selina Napanangka Fisher is a Warlpiri artist connected to Yuendumu and Nyirripi in the Northern Territory. She was born in Alice Springs Hospital while her parents were living at Yuendumu, later attending Yuendumu School and Yirara College in Alice Springs. She is the granddaughter of Topsy Napurrurla Fisher, an established Warlukurlangu artist, and has painted with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation since 2006. Dreaming & Country: Pikilyi Jukurrpa / Karnta Jukurrpa Selina paints her father’s Pikilyi Jukurrpa, also known as Vaughan Springs Dreaming. Pikilyi is a major waterhole and natural spring near Mount Doreen Station, west of Yuendumu. The story is associated with two ancestral rainbow serpents and belongs to Japanangka / Napanangka and Japangardi / Napangardi custodial groups. She also paints Karnta Jukurrpa, or Women’s Dreaming, connected to women’s ceremony, Country and inherited Warlpiri knowledge. Style and Technique Selina works within the Warlukurlangu painting tradition, using circular sites, connecting lines and fields of dotting to map Jukurrpa across the canvas. In her Pikilyi works, the structure often centres on waterhole forms and the movement of ancestral figures through Country. Selina’s Palette Selina’s palette is consistent with contemporary Warlukurlangu painting, often using bright pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, blues, greens, whites and dark grounds. Colour is used to separate site, pathway and surrounding Country. For the Collector Selina Napanangka Fisher paints through Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, one of the longest-running Aboriginal-owned art centres in Central Australia. Her work is connected to Yuendumu and Nyirripi, with recurring subjects including Pikilyi Jukurrpa / Vaughan Springs Dreaming and Karnta Jukurrpa / Women’s Dreaming. Her work has been represented through galleries including Short St Gallery, Wentworth Galleries and Fine Art Logistics Gallery.