Transcending Light - Nora Wompi Nungurrayi

Different artists offer different lenses on the world. Some chart inner landscapes, some the extra-bodily boundaries of the self. Nora Wompi, a tiny ebullient woman whose art encompassed the lives of others, shows us something else.

Wompi was born at Lilparu in the Great Sandy Desert, near Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route. She spent her early years living a traditional nomadic lifestyle, continuing into her early twenties. It was in this country, close to Well 33, that she first encountered a white person.

Wompi's practice shifts between finely detailed tracings of her ancestral country and expressive fields of bold colour. Her paintings often draw upon narratives of spirit men, spirit dogs, and love magic, resulting in works that resonate with both cultural depth and aesthetic beauty.

Nora Wompi Nungurrayi (c. 1934 - 2017)